La Barbie- A Texan in the Mexican Cartel Plus Corruption

Who would have thought that a Texan and of course an American could have reached such a powerful status in Mexico drug cartels?

In Mexico, they call him “El Tigrillo,” a kind of wildcat, and sing his praises, ranking him among those of the country's top drug lords.

In Texas, he played high school football, and a coach nicknamed him “Barbie” because of his light hair and eyes.

Over the past 20 years, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen born in South Texas, has gone from high school jock to potential Mexican drug cartel boss — perhaps the only U.S. citizen to do so.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2a4aa3991390.jpg[/atsimg]

www.mysanantonio.com...

Experts in narco terrorism told ABC News that the 36-year-old modern day mobster is on the verge of becoming a top boss within a Mexican drug cartel, the first American ever to do so.

'La Barbie' Reputation Takes on Mythic Proportions

"La Barbie is a fascinating character that has reached the proportions of myth," said Fred Burton, vice president of intelligence for Stratfor Global Intelligence, who has followed Valdez-Villareal's rise to power. Burton is a former counterterrorism agent with the U.S. State Department.

"He's a kid you would not expect, coming from a nice family, upper-middle class, living the American dream," Burton said. "And the next thing you know, he's swallowed up in this narco business and has become highly successful."

abcnews.go.com...


He is reportedly responsible for some grisly acts and is wanted by both the Mexican and American authorities. There is a 2 million dollar reward on La Barbie's head on both sides of the border.

Today, the Houston Chronicle reported a grisly scene from Taxco, Mexico: The decomposing remains of 56 bodies and four heads were found at the bottom of an old, 600-foot-deep silver-mine shaft. Investigators say many of the victims were thrown into the pit while they were still alive.

Whom do Mexican authorities blame? None other than Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, who has reached the second-in-command position in the Sinaloa drug cartel. In that capacity, he's been waging a bloody turf war against the rival Gulf cartel.

news.yahoo.com...

Extra on this Texan

www.state.gov...
en.wikipedia.org...

Alliances between US gangs and Mexican cartels and Corruption

What is the true relationship of US gangs and Mexican cartels?

Reports have shown that US gangs are forming alliances with the cartels. Even gangs like the Aryans have been willing to put aside their hatred in an attempt to get a piece of the green pie. After all, GREEN thumps any color IMO. It's is all about the money.

Rival prison gang members, including warring white supremacist and Hispanic groups, are brokering unusual criminal alliances outside prison to assist Mexican drug cartel operations in the U.S. and Mexico, federal law enforcement officials say.

The groups, including the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, remain bitter enemies in prison, divided along racial and ethnic lines. Yet outside, the desire for profits is overcoming rivalries.

www.usatoday.com...

I don't think there is any reason to post about corruption in Mexico. We know it exists big time and has existed for a long time.

Nearly all of us think corruption when we hear about Mexico, but what about corruption in the US?

Why do many people continue to focus all the blame on Mexico while ignoring the role Americans play?

I mean, just look at the article below. How is it possible for someone to run a criminal enterprise behind a US prison?

Is that not a sign of corruption? How about all the contraband that gets into our prisons?

Why should the border be any different than a prison? Where are the militias who want to clean up many of our violent drug infested US streets?

When Mexican drug traffickers need someone killed or kidnapped, or drugs distributed in the United States, they increasingly call on American subcontractors - U.S.-based prison gangs that run criminal enterprises from behind bars, sometimes even from solitary confinement.

articles.sfgate.com...

Does the US really have the resources to constantly investigate the personnel it has working along the borders?

For every corrupt official discovered, how many go undetected?

As a high-ranking U.S. anti-drug official, Richard Padilla Cramer held front-line posts in the war on Mexico's murderous cartels. He led an office of two dozen agents in Arizona and was the attache for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Guadalajara.

While in Mexico, however, Cramer also served as a secret ally of drug lords, according to federal investigators.

articles.latimes.com...


Calderon statement aside, the US really does need to dig deeper to find out how bad corruption on the US side exists. IMO, there is a reason why so much drugs are entering the US despite newer technology, more agents, and more cooperation among law enforcement.

And drug-related bribery is gnawing deep into US institutions, as Calderon has long alleged. Thomas Frost of the US Department of Homeland Security says that last year the department accused 839 of its own agents of corruption. In evidence to a US Senate committee this month, Kevin Perkins of the division of the FBI charged with fighting corruption within the US government said his – presumably honest – staff had deployed some 120 agents along the border. They dug up more than 400 public corruption cases that resulted in well over 100 arrests and more than 130 state and federal prosecutions.

www.independent.co.uk...

Hearing have been held about corruption and task forces have been created. But is all of this just a show or will it really tackle the issue of corruption in the drug war?

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs recently held a hearing in order to address corruption on the U.S borders. According to Kevin L. Perkins: "the FBI and its partners netted corrupt officials from 12 different federal, state, and local government agencies who allegedly used their positions to traffic in drugs. To date, 84 of those subjects have pled guilty to related charges."

www.hsdl.org.../5433

An Associated Press investigation has found U.S. law officers who work the border are being charged with criminal corruption in numbers not seen before, as drug and immigrant smugglers use money and sometimes sex to buy protection, and internal investigators crack down.

Mexico has been cooperating with the US, have taken on the cartels, have started to change their legal system to that of the US, and have been extraditing cartel members to the US like never before. Is all of the above a good sign that Mexico is trying to clean house?

"To get drugs into the United States the one you need to corrupt is the American authority, the American customs, the American police – not the Mexican. And that's a subject, by the way, which hasn't been addressed with sincerity," the Mexican president said. "I'm waging my battle against corruption among Mexican authorities and we're risking everything to clean our house, but I think there also needs to be a good cleaning on the other side of the border."

www.signonsandiego.com...

What about the recent Wachovia revelations and the way they and other banking cartels aided the drug cartels?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

What about the CIA role in all of this? Used to be the number one suspect when it came to drugs but suddenly they are basically hardly mentioned in the Mexican war on drugs.

What about Washington's promised of aid to Mexico?

The U.S. government has delivered only about 9 percent of the $1.6 billion in drug-war aid promised to Mexico and Central America as Mexican executives say increasing violence is the greatest threat to the economy.

U.S. agencies were forced to delay delivering training and equipment included in the 2008 Merida Initiative because they lacked staff and funding, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report, a draft of which was provided by the office of Congressman Eliot Engel,

www.bloomberg.com...

I realize that many Americans want to put an end to the violence on the US border.
But I encourage everyone to read up on what is causing that violence. Some of you might be surprised it isn't just a Mexican thing after all. And if you think a militia is going to solve the problem, well.. even they are prone to corruption if offered the right amount.

It's all about the money.

...well done, jam... nice to see a fair representation for a change...

Originally posted by jam321
Who would have thought that a Texan and of course an American could have reached such a powerful status in Mexico drug cartels?

...doesnt surprise me at all...


www.mysanantonio.com...

"He's a kid you would not expect, coming from a nice family, upper-middle class, living the American dream," Burton said. "And the next thing you know, he's swallowed up in this narco business and has become highly successful."

...imo, what happened to "barbie" is that he realized the true meaning behind "the american dream" - and that is - there are no REAL laws that govern everyone equally - money is ALL that matters - and - how you get it is inconsequential - just ask the rockefellers, jp morgan, ken lay, the bush family... even if you get caught, like ken lay did, you just fake a heart attack and slither off to a tropical island or an extremely protected south american village inhabited by old nazis...

...is "barbie" a bad man?... yep, bigtime - but - so were / are most of our presidents, presidential staff, governors, senators, legislators, law enforcers, military leaders (its a long list) and they get away with it...

...do you know why "barbie" has a 2million dollar tag on his head?... because he wont play by their rules... so, just like saddam hussein, they're gonna make out like he's SO MUCH WORSE then they are...

Originally posted by jam321
It's all about the money.

...yep, money rules...

I wouldn't bve surprised if this guy was actually CIA, or at least a CIA asset. Something could have gone wrong where he was exposed.

--airspoon

reply to post by airspoon

I wouldn't bve surprised if this guy was actually CIA,

Funny how you mention that. I have had CIA on my mind the whole time I made this thread.

The corruption lies in the acts of prohibition on drugs. There is no good reason to prohibit the use and sales of drugs, as both fall into a clear example of supply and demand. Where Congress has been granted a limited authority regarding the regulation of commerce, these acts of prohibition have served to create a police state, in every state, to expand the enforcement powers of the federal government, and have led The United States to becoming a nation that incarcerates more people than any other industrialized nation in the world.

You can be rest assured that drug cartels do not want to see the repeal of drug laws. You can be rest assured that the CIA does not want to see the repeal of drug laws. You can be rest assured that the prison guard unions do not want to see the repeal of drug laws. You can be rest assured that anyone making a profit off these drug laws, do not want to see them repealed. However, repeal these drug laws, and you can be rest assured, that after a short period of violent resistance to that, crime will dramatically decline in The United States.

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux

You can be rest assured that drug cartels do not want to see the repeal of drug laws. You can be rest assured that the CIA does not want to see the repeal of drug laws. You can be rest assured that the prison guard unions do not want to see the repeal of drug laws. You can be rest assured that anyone making a profit off these drug laws, do not want to see them repealed.

No doubt, no doubt.

The drug business has been profitable on both side of the aisles.

reply to post by jam321

The drug business has been profitable on both side of the aisles.

The drug business will always be profitable. As long as there is a demand for that supply, there will be a profit off of that demand. The problem is not that people are profiting off of drugs, the problem is that governments and thugs are profiting off of drugs. Government has no business being in business. Governments that profit are not governments, they are something else all together.

Yes we have corruption everywhere not just Mexico. How can something this huge ever be stopped? So frustrating!!!!

Originally posted by Night Star
Yes we have corruption everywhere not just Mexico. How can something this huge ever be stopped? So frustrating!!!!

The same way it was created, incrementally and through persistence. The so called "war on drugs" did not happen all at once. It began shortly after the 18th Amendment was repealed, and in some ways, even before that. This so called "war on drugs" happened incrementally and persistently through time, so that by the time politicians were openly declaring a "war on drugs", the prohibition of drugs had long been established.

We the people are the ones to blame, as it is we the people who have put drug users in prison, just for using drugs. We have not only tolerated this "war on drugs" we have actively perpetuated it. When juries start refusing to convict both drug users and dealers, when Grand juries start refusing to indict both drug users and drug dealers, then we will have begun the necessary process of incrementally ending this horrific "war on drugs".

If we the people refuse to acquiesce to this institutionalized drug profiting, and demand, first by using our inherent political power as jury's, as voters, and as people who possess inalienable rights, then legislatures will be forced to sit up and take notice, and will ultimately be forced to repeal these imprudent laws. It will take the same persistence of vision that got us in this mess, but we can and must clean up the mess we all made.

It sounds as if you are attempting to label this drug lord fellow a Texan for a Reason? Are you to make one assume 'Texans' follow his path. There is one, himself. What is your point? Your thread sounds like a psyop deception though I could be wrong.

Why not clearly state out where your position on these matters are.
The audience can Start from there.

Disclosure:
Never met him.
Don't want to.
U?

No amount of money or assets in the world would be worth living the lifestyle of a cartel head. Talk about paranoia; I imagine it's all day long.
No thanks.

[edit on 26-7-2010 by Perseus Apex]

reply to post by Perseus Apex

It sounds as if you are attempting to label this drug lord fellow a Texan for a Reason? Are you to make one assume 'Texans' follow his path.

I label him a Texan because that is what he is. I just found it strange that a person from the US could attain such a high status considering he isn't from Mexico.