U.S. Consulate Bombing in Mexico Ignored by White House

A bombing incident at a U.S. consulate in Mexico received very little news media attention and absolutely no response from President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Attorney General Eric Holder.

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An explosion occurred at the U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo in Mexico on Saturday morning. A small bomb was thrown over the wall of the consulate but there were no casualties reported by U.S. or Mexican authorities. The attack in the Mexican border city was the latest alleged attack by Mexican drug gangs who are targeting the U.S. due to American law enforcement assisting Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s attack on Mexican cartels. According to one law enforcement official, Mexican police investigators are reviewing videotapes from security cameras throughout the consulate in hopes of identifying a suspect or suspects involved in the bombing incident. The U.S. State Department ordered the closing of its consulates in Nuevo Laredo and Coahuila. This bombing was the second attack on the U.S. consulates and consulate staff in Mexico within one month. Three people working at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez were killed by gun fire on March 13. Law enforcement experts believe the Mexican drug cartels are retaliating against U.S. interests due to the large number of cases in which drug kingpins and their minions are being extradited to the U.S. to stand trial. For example, a law enforcement task force of federal, state, and local agents and officers on recently arrested 10 people linked to a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization that allegedly smuggled large quantities of methamphetamine into the United States and distributed the drug throughout Southern California, the Central Valley and the State of Washington, according to reports obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Dubbed the Don Chuy Drug Trafficking Organization, the narcotics ring allegedly obtained multi-kilogram quantities of methamphetamine in Mexico; arranged for the transportation of the drugs into the United States, primarily by using hidden compartments and fake car batteries in vehicles driven through international ports of entry; and distributed wholesale quantities of the drug through cells based in the Inland Empire, California’s Central Valley and Washington. During an eight-month investigation into the Don Chuy organization, law enforcement authorities seized approximately 90 pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of well over $5 million. Authorities made a series of large seizures of narcotics, including the seizure of almost seven pounds of methamphetamine on August 11, 2009; the seizure of almost five pounds of nearly pure methamphetamine on September 9; the seizure of approximately 24 pounds of methamphetamine that was discovered in a tractor-trailer on Interstate 5 in Kern County on October 26; the seizure of more than 10 pounds of methamphetamine in Fresno on November 17; and a seizure this morning of approximately five pounds of methamphetamine at a house in Gardena that authorities believe was maintained by the Don Chuy organization. Also, as authorities investigated people who allegedly transported methamphetamine for the Don Chuy organization, they seized eight kilograms of cocaine secreted in a vehicle that attempted to enter the United States at the Calexico Port of Entry on September 18. The Don Chuy Drug Trafficking Organization is named after the ring’s alleged leader, Jesus Marquez-Marquez, who is known as “Don Chuy” and allegedly stored drugs in Tijuana stash houses before the drugs were moved across the international border. Marquez-Marquez, who is the lead defendant in a criminal complaint filed yesterday in United States District Court, is believed to be in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Several of Don Chuy’s top lieutenants -- including David Jimenez-Pedroza, who allegedly oversaw domestic distribution of Don Chuy narcotics -- were arrested today or were previously taken into custody. The criminal complaint charges a total of 31 defendants with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, a charge that carries a statutory maximum penalty of life without parole in federal prison.