Ambassador El Diablo

The people you see in the picture above are the result of Mexican drug lords "right sizing" their consumer base by removing their heads. At least that's what the ambassador from Mexico thinks.

The editorial should be better headed "Let's Call Mexico's cartels what they are: very violent, well-financed transnational criminal organizations."

These transnational criminal organizations, which operate in both our countries, are not terrorist organizations. They are very violent criminal groups that are well-structured and well-financed. They pursue a single goal. They want to maximize their profits and do what most business do: hostile takeovers and pursue mergers and acquisitions. They use violence to protect their business from other competitors as well as from our two governments' efforts to roll them back. There is no political motivation or agenda whatsoever beyond their attempt to defend their illegal business.

Misunderstanding the challenge we face leads to wrong policies and bad policy making. If you label these organizations as terrorist, you will have to start calling drug consumers in the U.S. "financiers of terrorist organizations" and gun dealers "providers of material support to terrorists." Otherwise, you really sound as if you want to have your cake and eat it too. That's why I would underscore that the editorial page should be careful what it advocates for.

Arturo Sarukhan, Ambassador of Mexico to the U.S., Washington, D.C.

Thank you Ambassador Arturo Asshat for regurgitating your El Presidente's palaver. Nothing like having a third world dungheap take a snot-encrusted finger out of their nose and wave it under yours. Calling a vicious criminal enterprise an "illegal business" is like calling a serial rapist a "non-board certified gynocologist."

I am so sick and tired of Mexican officials trying to put a happy face on the slaughter and mayhem plaguing their hopelessly corrupt nation. There's just no way to put lipstick on this cerdo. Here is a Dallas Opinion Blog that says pretty much what I think-

Unlike Pablo Escobar's Colombian reign of terror in the 1990s, the Mexican cartels are engaged in serious insurgent campaigns. Armed with military infantry weapons, their gunmen use complex small-unit tactics that differ from the usual "pray and spray" methods beloved by criminals. Cartels run training camps for assassins on the border. They attempt to agitate the populace against the Mexican military through political subversion. And they control towns and neighborhoods that the military tries to retake through force.

Mexico's cartels are evolving distinct political aims. La Familia is exemplary in this regard. Using social services and infrastructure protection as levers in rural areas and small towns, they are building a social base. In urban areas, they are funding political patron-client relationships to extend their reach. Reinforced by corruption, propaganda, political marches and demonstrations, as well as social media such as "narcocorridos," such activity helps to shape the future conflict.

Congratulations Ambassador, you've managed to ignore a large scale, weapons grade Weatherman faction that is working up a big head of steam right in your own livingroom.