Narco News '02
Certify
This!
The Narco-Ballad
of
Ramón Arellano
Félix
A Narco
Corrido
By Los
Embajadores del Norte
Davidow Del Norte
Squeezes Fiction from Fact
It
was only a matter of time before the
popular music phenomenon of "narco corridos," or folk
ballads about the public figures of drug trafficking, took the
English-speaking world by storm.
Narco News
today publishes the lyrics of "The Ballad of Ramón
Arellano Félix" by a group called "Los Embajadores
del Norte."
But first, some background information.
The reported-but-unconfirmed death this
month of Ramón Arellano Félix, alleged boss, with
other family members, of the Tijuana cartel, has provoked massive
speculation from the Mexican press to the New York Times.
The authorities "think" he is
dead... but they can't find the body.
Sound familiar? Four years ago, Amado
Carillo, "the Lord of the Skies," was reported dead
after a botched plastic-surgery operation, but rumors that the
alleged Juárez cartel boss faked his death and lives to
laugh about it have reappeared with frequency. This legend was
even implied in the Hollywood motion picture Traffic (for
which NY Times reporter Tim Golden was a consultant who
supposedly made the film conform to real life facts).
One of the ironies of this week's story
of the death-that-maybe-wasn't is that it comes just as the United
States government has issued its "certification" of
Mexico as a trusted drug war ally.
Ambassador
as Mortician
The
Spain-based news agency, EFE, reports
that "U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow on Tuesday
said that one of the gunmen killed in a Feb. 10 shootout in Mazatlan
might have been Ramón Arellano Félix, the head
of the Tijuana cartel and one of the most wanted criminals in
the United States. Although Mexican authorities have yet to conclude
their investigation, 'with the information that I have, I think
that there is a good chance that it was Arellano Félix,'
Davidow told Mexico's official news agency Notimex."
Jeffrey
Davidow
Narco News
has long stated that the extensive media attention to "cartel"
leaders like the Arellano Félix brothers or their competitors
of the Juárez Cartel or the Sinaloan Chapo Gúzman
- who escaped out of prison last year by simply walking out of
a "maximum security" pokey in the State of Jalisco
- and other bigger-than-life media personalities serves as a
convenient distraction to draw attention away from the true kingpins
of narco-trafficking in government, banking and financial industries;
the ones who launder the money and make an estimated 80 percent
of the illicit drug profits.
According to multiple press reports, the
rumor that Ramón Arellano Félix is dead was started
by United States officials.
"The US anti-drug agency (DEA) knew
first about the possibility that Ramón Arellano Félix
was one of the deaths resulting from the shootout last February
10," reports today's daily El Universal of Mexico
City. "Nine days after the fact, according to government
reports, the DEA alerted Mexico that one of the victims of the
shootout could be the chief of the Tijuana cartel."
Today's daily La Jornada of Mexico
City reports that "On February 19th, nine days after the
shootout, Miguel Franni, a DEA agent... obtained information
from his 'contacts' in San Isidro, California, suggesting that
Ramón Arellano was one of the three deaths."
Beers
Joins the Chorus
But
during a US State
Department press briefing on Monday,
Washington fixer Randy Beers - while explaining the results of
this year's "certification" process - was asked point
blank by a reporter: "I wonder if you can give us any comments
about the apparent assassination of Ramón Arellano Félix
a few days ago, and, after that, his apparent cremation, as the
Attorney General of Mexico announced over the weekend."
Beers punted: "With respect to the
reports of the death of the drug kingpin, I'm going to have to
let the Mexican reports stand for themselves. I don't have any
additional information to offer you on that particular set of
statements by the Mexican government. That is essentially what
we know."
Randy
Beers
The non-answer by Beers (who is scheduled
to be deposed under oath today by attorneys for Ecuadoran
peasants harmed by U.S.-sponsored "anti-drug" herbicide
spraying, as reported last week by Narco News) contradicts
the information subsequently reported that U.S. officials "knew"
of the death of the number-two man on the
FBI's "10 Most Wanted" list" (Arellano Félix
lost the top spot to Osama bin Laden), before the Mexican government
had any idea.
Beers' pointing of reporters to the Mexican
government for an explanation, when his own U.S. government is
the source of what the Mexican officials have said, constituted
an unintentional admission that the Mexican government is, when
it comes to drug policy, run from Washington.
A reporter told Beers, "there have
been reports of an increase of almost 10 percent of cocaine traffic
from Colombia through Mexico," and asked, "whose fault
is that - or who's not doing the right work in the border to
control the drugs? There is an increase of 10 percent in the
last three months."
Beers again punted: "I'm not in a
position at this point in time to even confirm the increase of
10 percent."
Well, of course: Not while Beers and the
other bureaucrats were announcing the easy "certification"
of the governments of Mexico and the narco-state of Colombia.
"Let me simply go to the heart of
your question, which is why Mexico was not mentioned in this
particular report," said Beers. "And the answer is
that the Government of Mexico has taken demonstrable efforts
of a significant amount to deal with drug trafficking and, as
a result, there is no need to mention Mexico. If you simply look
at the record of the Fox administration since they have come
into office, you will see a string of arrests and seizures and
eradication that, as a whole, represent a very significant effort
on the part of the Mexican government. And the question about
whether or not we might consider decertifying them should even
arise, it seems to me, doesn't take into account the reports
that have occurred over the last year."
The
Times They Have a'Changed
The
nonsensical drug war "certification" process - a kind of "report card" foisted by
Washington upon other nations with high stakes in terms of US
and international aid - was founded specifically as a means to
pressure Mexico into folding its resistance to certain US economic
and trade policies that have nothing to do with the drug issue.
Washington is happy with Fox's efforts to privatize the electric
and petroleum industries, among others, and thus, it no longer
matters to Beers or other U.S. officials that cocaine trafficking
through Mexico has increased by 10 percent over the last three
months. The drug war, we repeat, was never about combating drugs.
At the same State Department press briefing,
a persistent reporter followed-up on this question about the
apparent increase in cocaine traffic through Mexico into the
United States: "The number I gave to you, it was given to
us by the DEA agents. And my question is, you haven't detected
an increase on the flow of drugs from South America through Mexico
in the last couple of months? Because I remember, even some
members of the White House have said there has been an increase
in the flow of drugs from South America to the United States
in the last couple of months. So you say not?"
Robert Brown of the drug czar's office
cut in before Beers could respond. Brown insisted: "No was
the answer."
Now, this is the story of the rumored
death of the number-two "most wanted" fugitive in the
United States. But the authorities were not exactly fast on the
draw after his reputed February 10th murder.
El Universal
reported yesterday: "In less than two and a half hours,
the body of the man identified as Ramón Arellano Félix
was reduced to ashes. At 11:20 p.m., in a white acrylic urn and
with a virgin engraved on the side, Alexandro Malagón,
employee of the Calderón Funeral Home, collected the ashes
of the man who is believed to be the boss of the Tijuana cartel."
"The ashes were delivered by an employee
of the funeral home to José Celestino López López,
described as a thin and dark man, who identified himself as the
"cousin" of Jorge Pérez López, the name
that appeared in the false state prosecutor ID that the presumed
Arellano Félix brother used…. The delivery and cremation
of the cadavers complied with all regulations. But there is a
detail not included in the file: the mysterious man who reclaimed
the body of the presumed Ramón Arellano Félix ordered
that it all be done rapidly and with discretion. And this was
done to the letter."
The
Song from the Street
Among
the Mexican public, long familiar with
the tricks of officialdom regarding its public relations portrait
of the narco, a very different legend has already circulated:
That Ramón isn't dead. As with the rumors about Amado
Carillo, the man on the street says he faked his own death. And
he did so with the help of US and Mexican authorities, as part
of some kind of golden parachute as new administrations in both
countries reorganize which narcos shall now become the most-favored
drug trafficking transport workers.
Ramón
Arellano Félix
Subscribers to this theory find historic
irony in that the "confirmation" of Ramón Arellano
Félix's death came from Ambassador Davidow. Three years
ago, Davidow "confirmed" the death of Mexican politician
Mario Riuz Masseiu, claiming even that he had seen the body,
while members of the politician's family protested that they
were forbidden from identifying the corpse (Subcomandante Marcos
of the Zapatistas, in a 1999 communiqué, boldly suggested
that Riuz Masseiu had joined the United States Witness Protection
Program, to be used as one more pressure point over corrupt Mexican
politicians to ensure their obedience to US economic policies.)
Narco News
doesn't claim to know what the true story is. Given the rapid
cremation of the body before it could be fully identified, and
the involvement by certified government officials in authorizing
that cremation, the "street" version is no less or
more credible than that of Davidow or Beers. And we remind that
the myth of "cartels" that run the drug trade has long
been a media circus to distract attention from the true kingpins
who reside in "respectable" circles of power.
So that our readers can best understand
the competing views over what happened in this mystery, today
we present the lyrics to a new narco-corrido that conform more
with the "street" version and common wisdom over how
the drug war operates in the US and Mexico than with the party
line being promulgated by government officials.
We now present "The Ballad of Ramón
Arellano Félix," a certified narco-corrido authored
by Los Embajadores del Norte, with the proviso that while it
accurately reflects the view of the man on the street, it is
not necessarily any less fictional than the fantastic version
offered by the chief of the morgue, er, embassy in Mexico City,
Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow.
The
Ballad of Ramón
Arellano
Félix
By Los Embajadores del
Norte
(Rock video to
feature Spanish subtitles)
I'm going to tell you a story
Of some brothers in Tijuana
They started out hungry and humble
They soon forgot marijuana
What gave them their riches
and mansions?
Surrounded by barbed wire and roses
They took from the farms of Colombia
Straight to the gringo bankers' noses
People would shake their hands
And follow wherever they'd go
Ramón was the handsomest brother
Lived the high life in San Diego
The Ambassador said
"He's dead, he's dead"
Thank you, Jeffrey
The Ambassador said
"He's dead, he's dead"
But he's free, he's free, he's free
But then came a change of regime
And they went through some hard knocks
When they lost their boy Zedillo
And Chapo got his Fox
Chapo Guzmán walked out
of prison
Under certified law and order
Today he walks down Main Street
Along the Texas border
The true kingpins in suits and
ties
Had so many officials to thank
When the Fox took the national treasury
All the way to the City Bank
The Ambassador said
"He's dead, he's dead"
Thank you, Jeffrey
The Ambassador said
"He's dead, he's dead"
But he's free, he's free, he's free
Ramón flew into a rage
Said "My time is almost done,
For they've only made me number two
And Osama gets number one"
Opium, Marijuana
Cocaine and Crystal Meth
They live to see another day
As Ramón fakes his own death
FBI, CIA, Customs
Interpol, DEA
They live to steal another day
But Ramón he's gone away
The Ambassador said
"He's dead, he's dead"
Thank you, Jeffrey
The Ambassador said
"He's dead, he's dead"
But he's free, he's free, he's free
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