Undoubtedly, Mexican drug cartels meet the U.S. government’s criteria for FTO designation, which requires organizations to be foreign, engage in terrorism or terrorist activity or possess the capability and intent to do so and pose a threat to U.S. nationals or U.S. national security. Mexican drug cartels are inherently foreign, routinely commit criminal acts within the statutory definition of terrorism, and arguably represent a more immediate and ongoing threat to U.S. national security than any of the currently-designated FTOs on the State Department list.
Properly designating the major Mexican TCOs—including the Los Zetas, Juárez and Sinaloa cartels—as FTOs would enhance the federal government’s ability to combat that threat. An official FTO designation would enable the prosecution of those who provide material support to them, facilitate the denial of entry and deportation of TCO members and affiliates, and eliminate the organizations’ access to the U.S. financial system.
“FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business,” according to the State Department.
For years, Mexican cartels have hijacked and sabotaged buses, commercial trucks and trains, activities constituting terrorist activities under U.S. law. The White Paper lists specific cases, including gasoline tankers and more than a dozen robberies daily of Ferromex trains, one of the three largest rail transport operators in the country. Mexican TCOs have also committed hundreds of political assassinations in recent years and members of Los Zetas launched a grenade and shot small arms fire at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey. Los Zetas members also murdered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Jaime Zapata a few years ago.
Judicial Watch’s White Paper also documents Mexican cartels’ use of explosive devices and high-caliber firearms, including rocket-propelled grenades and other military weapons. In 2018, Mexican officials seized nearly 2,000 high-caliber weapons from suspected cartel associates in Mexico City and there have been approximately 150,000 organized-crime-related murders in Mexico since 2006. Last year alone, there were nearly 1,200 kidnappings in Mexico, according to official figures provided in the White Paper.
Most of the crimes are financially motivated, but a significant number are executed to intimidate political, judicial, military and law enforcement officials from going after cartel members. Examples include two Mexican federal agents kidnapped and murdered by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, the kidnapping of Veracruz congresswoman-elect Norma Rodriguez and the kidnapping of Hidalgo Mayor Genero Urbano. Under U.S. law the seizing or detaining and threatening to kill, injure, or continue to detain, another individual in order to compel a third person (including a governmental organization) to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the seized individual constitutes terrorist activity. The danger created by these criminal enterprises is nothing new. A few years ago, the Drug Enforcement Administration determined that Mexican TCOs are the greatest criminal threat to the United States.
Mexico also fails miserably to combat human trafficking, which is pervasive in the country despite generous U.S. assistance under the TVPA. The Mexican government has not met the minimum standards under the 2000 law, including enhanced criminal sanctions for human traffickers and protections for victims. Figures obtained by Judicial Watch show that Mexico obtained fewer convictions than in the previous year, identified fewer victims than in the previous year, provided limited specialized services for trafficking victims, which were unavailable in most parts of the country, and maintained an inadequate number of shelters compared to the scale of the problem. The government inspected and prosecuted few complaints of forced labor in agriculture and corruption and complicity remain significant concerns inhibiting law enforcement action. The U.S. government should downgrade Mexico because it is not making the required efforts to meet the TVPA’s minimum standards. The reassessment would reduce American funding until improvements take place.

Mr. Parlato,
The web domain francoinforme.com has not been claimed. You should claim this domain what is $12 for the frankreport’s translation to Spanish?
At the very least it will help drive traffic to your website. Plus it will help get the word out to the Mexican population what a screw ball Salinas’s kid is.
Imagine down the road you could start a modern day “Voice of America”. A quasi political dissedent website with a conservative bent.
Once you claim the domain you can link it to the frankreport, and hopefully drive more traffic.
Someone grabbed the domain Franco informe I hope it was you Frank.
Frank I do not know how far you want to go playing hero but there are no true Mexican Dissident websites currently.
There are plenty of Russian, Chinese, and Iranian etc. I have been looking around.
The Mexican market for dissidents is greatly under serviced presently. You could lead the way. 😉
God knows your a good writer. I do not know if you speak or can write in Spanish. You took down Raniere.
I do not think you fully appreciate the significance of what you accomplished.
You actually are the guy that can take down Salinas or at the very least twist the lions tail. I do not honestly want to end up reading about you at future date being the victim of a botched “mugging” in Miami or in Florida keys, shot 15 times. I do think you are the man for the job.
The web domain is the only idea I have. I know you you do not need or want any unsolicited advice.
Congratulations on taking down that cock sucker Raniere.
I have enjoyed watching you fight the good fight from the sidelines I am sure it was not so enjoyable for you at times.
I wish you luck with your trial you definitely deserve a break after everything you have done to right the wrongs.
I did buy the domain – and thanks
Frank,
I do not want to throw a monkey wrench in things, but Salinas, the former President of Mexico, attended George Bush’s funeral and even sat next to Angela Merkel. I hate Salinas as much as you do Frank. Salinas is pure evil and is also incredibly influential in Mexican politics.
I know I keep mentioning the funeral. The reason is because he was invited to it as a form of respect. Jeb Bush’s wife attended Salinas’s swearing-in as Mexico’s president. Salinas also has ties to the Clinton as you have noted.
Frank, Salinas is like the personification and embodiment of Machiavelli’s book The Prince. Frank, no reporter in Mexico dares attacks the Salinas family. No mention of Salinas’s son’s involvement in Nxivm has been made by Mexican media or press as far as I know…
…Salinas is as Machiavellian as a politician can be.
I actually have read up on this guy. Like the Clintons, Salinas’s enemies commit suicide in odd ways and at odd times. One Salinas confidant committed suicide in a New York hotel room. This individual had an incredible amount of information regarding Salinas’s “business” dealings. One US government official is quoted as saying that Salinas “got rid of his one loose string”.
Frank, Salinas is untouchable and bad things happen to those that cross him. Seriously. Journalists have short life spans in Mexico.
I believe the Mexican that killed himself received a phone call……and was told kill yourself now or your entire family dies. That kind of ultimatum has been used for centuries it’s not just in movies.
The point of my comment is Salinas is not going anywhere and I would never want to draw his ire.
A good start would be for the DOJ to indict Emiliguano Salianas and Alex Betancourt.
This should have happened several years ago, but Barry was either asleep at the wheel or being paid off. I vote for the latter.
El Chapo was very clear it was paid off to be asleep at the wheel.
Anonymous,
I assure you El Chapo indirectly worked for Salinas via paying protection money.
In regards to Mexico it is anyone’s guess who is actually is pulling the strings. I believe Frank is right on the money. I just hope Frank is not aiming his sights next on Salinas after Raniere goes to prison. I am not being dramatic. Salinas is the “real deal”. If Frank were to gain traction in illuminating who Salinas truly is ……… well just hold seance and ask one of the dead or missing former Mexican reporters what happens when you cross Salinas.