Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Calderon interview with NY Times/Chapo stuff

The New York Times interview with President Felipe Calderon is really pretty interesting, if you read the Spanish transcript rather than the edited version. (Link in title of post.)

I won't analyze it, or go into the statements about the PRI, but will comment on his remarks about Chapo, which are now generating buzz in Mexican dailies.

Here's what he says: (in response to a question about Chapo's wife giving birth to twins in a Los Angeles hospital and how she might have made it there)

Calderon: Well that you have to ask US border authorities. Because the [customs/immigration checkpoint] one has to cross in order to get to Los Angeles is American, not Mexican. If Chapo was in Los Angeles I'd ask the Americans why they didn't catch him. I don't know if he was in Los Angeles, but those are questions I have.

NYT: But he/she (unclear from context whether NYT is referring to Chapo or his wife) had to travel across Mexican territory to get to LA.

Calderon: He/she is not in Mexican territory, and I suppose/guess that Chapo is in US territory. Here the surprising thing is that he or his wife are so comfortable in the United States, which makes me ask myself... How many families [of drug lords] or capos would be more comfortable on the northern side of the border than on the southern side? What does Chapo Guzman gain by having his family in the United States?

Calderon, speaking about Chapo and other capos: Chapo, like other leaders, Los Zetas, Lazcano... these are very protected people, people who have very complex cover networks. In the specific case of El Chapo, we suspect his area of influence extends through the Sierra Madre Occidental, between the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa, which allows him great mobility and regardless of what operations we conduct to catch him, he has a way of detecting [the authorities] at dozens of kilometers distance, hours away.

Certainly, during my administration, the Mexican army has arrived, probably twice, at a site where Chapo had been just hours before. Sooner or later, he and other leaders will fall.

NYT: Do you want Chapo dead or alive?
Calderon: Frankly, I don't wish death upon anyone.

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