The Snitches, The Basis of DEA in Mexico

In the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, said Michael Braun, who until October 2008 directed the U.S. anti-narcotics operations. Braun, who left the DEA after 33 years of service and now a consultant in the field of combating terrorism and organized crime, says U.S. agents do not protect any Mexican cartel.

In an interview with Proceso, the expert points out: “The key to success in the fight against drug trafficking has always been the intelligence obtained through people, ie through confidential informants. This is and always will be. ”Informants play many important roles: they take part in covert operations, steal information, help to place microphones and get phone numbers to track criminals.” Mexico is not an exceptional case, says, hence DEA informants that have infiltrated all the cartels. Braun insists that this aspect is the “backbone” of the development of intelligence collection in the 87 offices that DEA is in the world. The case of DEA informants in Mexico-including Vicente Zambada Niebla, El Vicentillo, exacerbated in recent weeks of violence between the cartels, which showed the government of Felipe Calderón unable to control the situation. The executions of 16 people in Culiacan on November 23 last year and another 26 in Guadalajara the next day were a retaliation against rivals Los Zetas because, according to messages left on the capital Guadalajara, the U.S. government protects the cartel of Sinaloa (Proceso 1830). In its editions 1823, 1826, 1832 This weekly has reported on the investigations that followed in the Federal Court in Chicago to Vicentillo, who next month will be tried for crimes related to trafficking drugs as well as the request of the accused to be acquitted of crimes whenever, he claims, was an informant for the DEA in Mexico. Son of Vicente El Mayo Zambada Garcia, ranking number two in the cartel of Sinaloa , the defendant has insisted that his work in the United States Drug Enforcement Agency was to pass information on the operations of rival cartels that Joaquin El Chapo Guzman head and his own father. To date, the Department of Justice United States does not define whether Vicentillo was or was not a DEA informant. However, the zeta narcomensaje left by the murderers of the 26 people in Guadalajara refer directly to the work of the son of El Mayo with U.S. agents in Mexico. - Is the DEA or the U.S. government protect the cartel from Sinaloa ? -Is asked Braun. I do not think the U.S. government is protecting you. Why would I? The one fact certain of is that I have on several occasions the authorities in Mexico have been seconds from stop to El Chapo, I have no doubt that at some point you’re going to arrest or eliminate. ”Los Zetas”, desperate Without reject the possibility that the U.S. government has had or have informants infiltrated the cartel of Sinaloa and other criminal groups in Mexico, Braun believes that Los Zetas are desperate because, he says, are suffering the consequences of strong pressure by Mexican and U.S. authorities began five years ago. ”Los Zetas are desperate. Of the 31 or 32 most important lords noted the Mexican government, 21 or 22 have been arrested or killed in the last three years. The Zetas are against the wall, “said Braun. For the co-founder of the consultancy Spectre Group International, which occurs in Mexico is the successful outcome of the fight against drug trafficking: “Although Mexican society find it difficult to assimilate by the thousands of deaths resulting in this battle of the war on drugs is succeeding President Calderon, the narcos they feel cornered, hence as irrational reactions from groups like Los Zetas. “ Braun, who for a year and a half was the DEA’s interim manager , argues that it is “impossible” in a six-year period to end the Mexican drug trafficking during the PRI president says, he consolidated his power through his ability to corrupt authorities and police forces of their country. And it refers to the Colombia 25 years ago. It states that the authorities of that country it took just over three decades dismantling the Medellin and Cali cartels and fragment the drug transfer operations, plus even now fighting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). - Do you mean that Mexico lacks nine to 10 years to achieve a success like Colombia ? -You ask. -I do not know the magic number of years missing to Mexico to consolidate their success. InColombia things have not been completed in its entirety … the FARC are still present. And even if the Calderon government is reluctant to compare what is happening in Mexico with what happened in Colombia during the peak and defeat the cartels Medellin and Cali, U.S. officials and former officials who accept the analogy increasing every day. Braun believes that, as inColombia , Mexico drug violence increased begins to lead the way to the end of the domain of large cartels. But he admits that “Mexico has more violent crime,” although nuanced: it is not terrorist or insurgent violence as the Colombian. But the contrast also mentions: “In many ways Mexico is unlike Colombia , in some it is worse, and the number of deaths (60 thousand according to the weekly Zeta Tijuana). Although it must be admitted that has not experienced many of the things that lived Colombia , as the hundreds of attacks with car bombs, for example. “ According to the former official of the DEA, the Mexican government’s achievements are mostly understood to the need to exchange and share intelligence with the United States, especially from confidential informants. Although Braun no longer take daily anti-drug operations, maintains contact with his fellow Americans and foreigners even boasts of being one of the most updated in the field. To prove it refers to the killings in recent weeks in Mexico.- Is it true that the DEA has hundreds of informants in Mexico? ’Not hundreds, but tens. He says the work of DEA informants in Mexico is not secret to the Calderon administration. ”In most cases,” said Mexican authorities know who the sources of confidential information from the DEA. An informant infiltrated the Mexican drug trade is, according to Braun, the charge of providing telephone numbers of suspected or alleged criminals. Insists: This aspect is “crucial” because the phone numbers provided by informants allow the governments of Mexico and the United States to track the location of both users and record conversations after essential for the development of decommissioning of groups criminals. ”telephone interventions are always under court approval of the authorities of the country where the DEA performs the operation … Local authorities must give permission,” notes Braun. The definition of an intelligence strategy by respondents is the most important and difficult mission for DEA agents in countries like Mexico. The role of a DEA agent in Mexico “is not cocktails or attend social parties’ held at the U.S. embassy says wryly. Clarifies that the agency “does not ask any foreign government to the dirty work, which makes is to share information. When you receive tips from their headquarters, he asks his host country counterparts to corroborate or investigate. “ According to Braun in the fight against Mexican drug informants are essential and clarifies that the DEA also has dozens of infiltrated cells Sinaloa cartel, the Gulf, Los Zetas, Tijuana and La Familia Michoacana settled in U.S. territory, especially in the Hispanic and Mexican. ”Immigrants are constantly moving back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico. When the DEA conducts wiretaps with the approval of a local court is easy to develop intelligence systems. With the evidence at hand it is easy to imply (as informants) to Mexican citizens who are involved in drug trafficking, “says Braun. In this context, the DEA shares intelligence with the PGR and the SSP to help identify phone numbers “suspects” as well as people in Mexico. ”When the DEA delivers information to Mexican counterparts and they confirm it, can easily develop a detection system call from Mexico to America.”