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The Mexican Government And Their Hunt For El Mencho · The Moscow Murders and More

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. Whenever
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: we talk about the war on drugs, we talk about
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  Speaker 1: the decapitation strategy that's employed by the DEA, by the
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  Speaker 1: American government, and how it doesn't work. And in the
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  Speaker 1: article that we're about to discuss, you're going to see
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  Speaker 1: exactly what I'm talking about. The second that El Chapo
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  Speaker 1: was arrested, they were already on to the next one.
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  Speaker 1: they were already talking about going after El Mencho before
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  Speaker 1: the ink was even dry on the arrest warrant for
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  Speaker 1: El Chapo. So if the decapitation strategy worked the way
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  Speaker 1: they say it does, wouldn't that mean that after they
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  Speaker 1: got El Chapo, or after they got Pablo Escobar, that
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  Speaker 1: the war on drugs would have been over? The sad
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  Speaker 1: truth is, no matter how many of these people that
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  Speaker 1: they capture, no matter how many of them they kill,
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be an X-Man up. And if they
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  Speaker 1: catch El Mencho tomorrow, It'll be El Mayo they're talking
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  Speaker 1: about the next day. And on and on and on
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  Speaker 1: it'll go, with no end in sight and only more murder, mayhem,
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  Speaker 1: and misery served up for the American people. Today's article
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  Speaker 1: is from NBC News and the headline, The New Chapo,
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  Speaker 1: an inside look at the hunt for El Mencho, Mexico's
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  Speaker 1: bloodiest drug lord. The DEA is targeting a cartel kingpin
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  Speaker 1: the agency says is responsible for tons of meth flowing
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  Speaker 1: into the U.S. each month. This article was authored by
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  Speaker 1: Gabe Gutierrez and Bianca Seward, and this article was originally
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  Speaker 1: published on March 1, 2021. Sometimes, the decapitated bodies are
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  Speaker 1: hanging from bridges. Other times, the mutilated torsos are just
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  Speaker 1: discarded on the street. Often, the carnage comes with a
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  Speaker 1: calling card, CJNG, in scrawled lettering. And that's certainly one
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  Speaker 1: thing that the cartels like to do. They like to
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  Speaker 1: let you know when they're the ones that are responsible
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  Speaker 1: for these kinds of atrocities. Remember, they're doing all of
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  Speaker 1: this because it's about intimidation. They're trying to intimidate their rivals.
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  Speaker 1: They're trying to intimidate the local populace. And they're trying
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  Speaker 1: to intimidate the police. So that is why you see
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  Speaker 1: them do this in such a public way. They want
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  Speaker 1: everybody to understand that they're in control. that they mean business,
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  Speaker 1: and that the government or their rivals can't stop them.
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  Speaker 1: The CJNG likes to send a message to those who
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  Speaker 1: have been tracking the resurgence of the Mexican drug war
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  Speaker 1: in the last few years. The cartel's rise is particularly troubling.
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  Speaker 1: It is as brazen as it is ruthless. The Drug
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  Speaker 1: Enforcement Administration now believes the CJNG is responsible for tons
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  Speaker 1: of meth and fentanyl flowing into the United States each month.
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  Speaker 1: There is no doubt that CJNG is a gigantic player.
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  Speaker 1: They're right there with the Sinaloa cartel as the two
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  Speaker 1: biggest dogs in the kennel. Now there's a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: other cartels, no doubt about that. But when we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about worldwide reach, we're talking about a cartel that can
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  Speaker 1: really get things moving inside of Mexico. CJNG is it.
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  Speaker 1: And El Mencho, the man behind the curtain of the
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  Speaker 1: whole entire operation, is brutal and violent. There is no
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  Speaker 1: length that this man won't go to increase their footprint.
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  Speaker 1: This man wants all the drug routes, wants all the corridors,
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  Speaker 1: and he's willing to leave as many bodies in his
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  Speaker 1: wake as it takes. CJNG is our number one priority
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  Speaker 1: right now, said Bill Bodner, the special agent in charge
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  Speaker 1: of the DEA's Los Angeles Field Division, who oversees a
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  Speaker 1: group of agents specifically tasked with tracking down the cartel leader. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: how's that working out, boys? Not so well, huh? And
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  Speaker 1: the funny part is, they say, oh, CJNG, that's our
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  Speaker 1: focus now. Well, of course it is. Because Sinaloa cartel
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  Speaker 1: has paid off all the government officials that they possibly
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  Speaker 1: can inside of Mexico to provide themselves with protection. And
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  Speaker 1: a lot of that is orchestrated by El Mayo. El
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  Speaker 1: Mayo is probably the shrewdest and most successful narco of
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  Speaker 1: all time. This guy has never been arrested, never been
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  Speaker 1: hemmed up, nothing. And he continues to run things behind
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  Speaker 1: the scenes. A lot of people thought it was El Chapo,
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  Speaker 1: but it wasn't. El Mayo has always been the force
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  Speaker 1: behind Sinaloa cartel. Still, that man, Nemesio Ruben Osegueda Cervantes,
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  Speaker 1: known as El Mencho, has successfully eluded U.S. federal authorities
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  Speaker 1: so far. Multiple American and Mexican law enforcement officials tell
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  Speaker 1: NBC News that CJNG's head has filled the void after
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  Speaker 1: the 2016 capture of the notorious El Chapo Guzman, who
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  Speaker 1: led the rival Sinaloa cartel. And that comment right there
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  Speaker 1: alone shows you just how powerful El Mayo is. He
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  Speaker 1: has everybody believing that it's everybody else who's behind the sticks,
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  Speaker 1: who's in control. But really, El Mayo is calling all
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  Speaker 1: the shots. The Zetas were very feared, Bodnar said, but
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  Speaker 1: they met their match. Hunting a Ghost The DEA has
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  Speaker 1: touted a $ 10 million reward for information leading to Almancho's arrest.
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  Speaker 1: But so far, authorities have come up empty. And while
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  Speaker 1: $ 10 million is nothing to sneeze at, there's not many
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  Speaker 1: people out there that are going to risk not only
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  Speaker 1: their life, but their families' lives for $ 10 million. And
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  Speaker 1: when I'm talking about risking your life, I don't mean
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  Speaker 1: just being killed. I'm talking about torture like you would
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  Speaker 1: not believe. If you don't think CJNG is going to
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  Speaker 1: kick in your door and snatch you and your whole
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  Speaker 1: family if you start snitching on them, you're not paying attention.
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  Speaker 1: They will. The CJNG has only existed for about a decade,
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  Speaker 1: but it rose to power much more quickly than the
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  Speaker 1: rival Sinaloa cartel. Its influence now stretches across six continents
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  Speaker 1: and 28 of Mexico's 32 states, major U.S. cities, including
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  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, and New York, are all
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  Speaker 1: affected by the CJNG's drugs, DEA officials have said. And
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  Speaker 1: we have a presence of CJNG and Sinaloa here in
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  Speaker 1: Las Vegas as well. This is a gigantic transit point
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  Speaker 1: for them right on the I-15, and a lot of
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  Speaker 1: the drugs come through here heading up north. El Mencho
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  Speaker 1: has been indicted in U.S. federal court on charges of
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  Speaker 1: drug trafficking, corruption, and murder. But following his trail has
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  Speaker 1: been very difficult. At one point, the DEA believed he
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  Speaker 1: might be hiding in the mountains, but it has been
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  Speaker 1: challenging to pin him down. In many ways, he's been
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  Speaker 1: a ghost, one source said. The cartel leader was born
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  Speaker 1: in 1966 and lived for a time in California. He
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  Speaker 1: was arrested in the U.S. in the 1980s for selling drugs.
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  Speaker 1: He eventually made his way back to Guadalajara and began
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  Speaker 1: working for the Millennial Cartel, a subsidiary of the Sinaloa Cartel.
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  Speaker 1: He rose through the ranks before splintering off into his
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  Speaker 1: group around 2010. The resulting group, the CJNG, would quickly
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  Speaker 1: unleash a new wave of violence on its rivals. After 2016,
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  Speaker 1: when El Chapo was captured, the bloodshed intensified. Yeah, the
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  Speaker 1: Chapitos are not very happy with CJNG, and both of
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  Speaker 1: these groups are battling it out for the market share
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  Speaker 1: of synthetics, whether it be methamphetamine or fentanyl. And I
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  Speaker 1: know recently there's been a lot of talk about the
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  Speaker 1: Sinaloa cartel, namely the Chapitos, and how they're getting out
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  Speaker 1: of the fentanyl game. And I can't believe anyone would
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  Speaker 1: buy that. You really think they're going to leave all
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  Speaker 1: that money on the table? Zero chance that's going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: El Mencho's shadowy history doesn't reveal much, except perhaps why
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  Speaker 1: it's been so hard to find him. El Mencho seems
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  Speaker 1: to be a lot more disciplined than Chapo was, Bodner said.
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  Speaker 1: Chapo liked to live a flashy lifestyle. The cars, women,
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  Speaker 1: nice restaurants, alcohol. El Mencho is content to stay away
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  Speaker 1: from that stuff to work out, to eat right, and
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  Speaker 1: to stay off the radar. One thousand percent. That's what
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  Speaker 1: he's done from the beginning, and that's what he's going
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  Speaker 1: to continue to do. One of his few known vices,
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  Speaker 1: his reported love of cockfighting, which has earned him another nickname,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord of the Roosters. Family ties. El Mencho's American-born son,
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  Speaker 1: Ruben Gonzalez was arrested in 2015 and is now being
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  Speaker 1: held in a maximum security prison in Mexico as U.S.
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  Speaker 1: authorities ask for his extradition on drugs and weapons charges.
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  Speaker 1: We know that he's been extradited and he's also cooperating
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  Speaker 1: with the American government. And because of that cooperation, he's
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  Speaker 1: already been released from jail. According to the Mexican newspaper
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  Speaker 1: El Universal, in 2019, Gonzalez's attorney accused a DEA agent
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  Speaker 1: of bribing local magistrates to intervene and speed up the process,
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  Speaker 1: an allegation the agency denies. They're trying to slow the
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  Speaker 1: agent down on this case, Bodnar said. This is a
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  Speaker 1: tactic by a defense attorney trying to slow down an
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  Speaker 1: investigation into a cartel that's trying to put up roadblocks
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  Speaker 1: to stop us from extraditing a person who is a U.S. citizen,
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  Speaker 1: by the way. And usually if you have dual citizenship,
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  Speaker 1: the party's over for you. If the United States wants
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  Speaker 1: to extradite you back to the country, Mexico is really
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  Speaker 1: not going to fight that. And that was certainly the
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  Speaker 1: case here. The battle between the DEA and the cartels
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  Speaker 1: in Guadalajara has raged for decades. It was recently featured
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  Speaker 1: in the Netflix series Narcos Mexico, which told the story
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  Speaker 1: of agent Kiki Camarena who was kidnapped and murdered in 1985.
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  Speaker 1: We are at war. With his face obscured in darkness,
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  Speaker 1: the man vividly remembered the last time he spoke to
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  Speaker 1: his son. It was more than a year ago. Almost
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  Speaker 1: 400 days of agony have followed. The searing pain of
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  Speaker 1: a parent who knows their child has been murdered but
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  Speaker 1: can't find the body. I didn't believe human beings could
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  Speaker 1: do this, he said in an interview. We're at war.
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  Speaker 1: For security reasons, he asked that his face not be shown,
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  Speaker 1: nor his name used. That's a common request in Mexico,
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  Speaker 1: where the government just announced that more than 61,000 people
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  Speaker 1: have disappeared amid the ongoing drug war, and where homicides
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  Speaker 1: topped 31,000 in 2019, the deadliest year in memory. And unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: it's only gotten worse since then. He wore a ball cap,
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  Speaker 1: a mustache, and a tired smile. He worked as a chiropractor,
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  Speaker 1: but his family owned a ranch in rural Mexico, which
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  Speaker 1: had been handed down through the generations. Until, he said,
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  Speaker 1: dozens of cartel members seized it to make meth. The
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  Speaker 1: government can't handle them, he said, and that's what they'll do.
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  Speaker 1: They'll come in and they'll take whatever they want. Either
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  Speaker 1: you play ball, or you're going to catch a hot one.
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  Speaker 1: It's up to you. Across social media, the CJNG has
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  Speaker 1: posted gruesome displays of beheadings and executions. Other postings are
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  Speaker 1: propaganda videos meant to recruit new members. One former Mexican
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  Speaker 1: intelligence official said the cartel grooms potential recruits from a
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  Speaker 1: very young age, in their early teens, with easy access
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  Speaker 1: to drugs, promises of money, and jobs. CJNG business cards
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  Speaker 1: with popular logos like Louis Vuitton are openly handed out.
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  Speaker 1: In some neighborhoods, cartel members employ Robin Hood-type tactics, handing
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  Speaker 1: out food and other supplies to poor communities. The young men,
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  Speaker 1: who are lured into joining, are immediately tortured and forced
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  Speaker 1: to become Zakarios, or assassins, for the cartel. By the
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  Speaker 1: time they get older, they're willing to torture and decapitate
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  Speaker 1: their own victims. The ruthlessness of the attacks has drawn
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  Speaker 1: comparisons to the Islamic State militant group. In terms of violence, yes, Bodner,
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  Speaker 1: the DEA agent said, they may not have a religious ideology,
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  Speaker 1: but the violence is the same. The DEA gave NBC
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  Speaker 1: News rare access to one of its secret labs that
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  Speaker 1: analyzes drug seizures at an undisclosed location. The agency is
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  Speaker 1: seeing more methamphetamine cross the border, and much of it
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  Speaker 1: is attributed to the CJNG. Unlike marijuana or heroin, meth
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  Speaker 1: doesn't require huge swaths of land or good weather, and
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  Speaker 1: the labs can be built in isolated areas, and the
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  Speaker 1: synthetic drugs can be much more profitable. At the DEA's lab,
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  Speaker 1: technicians comb through the chemical composition of the meth. It's
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  Speaker 1: much more pure than before, said Bodner, the DEA agent.
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  Speaker 1: In Mexico, the security commissioner of the state of Guanajuato said,
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  Speaker 1: said in an interview that Americans' addiction to drugs fuels
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  Speaker 1: the demand, which in turn fuels the cartels and their violence.
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  Speaker 1: That is it right there. Everybody wants to talk about
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  Speaker 1: bombing the cartels, doing this, doing that. Until we deal
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  Speaker 1: with addiction here in America and get people off this poison,
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  Speaker 1: forget it. Nothing we do as far as bombing people
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  Speaker 1: or interdiction is going to have any effect whatsoever. Because
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  Speaker 1: as you see here, folks, next man up. No matter
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  Speaker 1: how many El Chapos we arrest, no matter how many
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  Speaker 1: cartels we destroy, there's going to be somebody else willing
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  Speaker 1: to fill that gap and make this money. Unfortunately, with
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  Speaker 1: each dose consumed, there comes the stain of blood, Sophia
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  Speaker 1: Hewitt said, and it's something we cannot deny. So look,
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  Speaker 1: we have to work together, hand in hand with Mexico
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  Speaker 1: and our other allies if we want to stop this.
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  Speaker 1: But we're not going to be able to do it
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  Speaker 1: with bombs. We're not going to be able to do
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  Speaker 1: it by arresting our way out of it. We have
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  Speaker 1: to deal with addiction. And until we can deal with
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  Speaker 1: the addiction here in America, the addiction elsewhere, it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: matter who's at the head of the organization, whether it
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  Speaker 1: be El Chapo, whether it be El Mencho, or whether
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  Speaker 1: it be, insert name here, the drugs are going to
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  Speaker 1: find their way to market as long as addicts have
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  Speaker 1: a taste for it. All of the information that goes
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: with this episode, including my contact information can be found
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: in the description box.