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Cartels attack Costco in Jalisco, Mexico
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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In Puerto Vallarta right now:
Malecón is on fire , gas stations are ablaze, both costco and its gas station are burning and the airport is at least partially on fire. Plus no ability to put them out because cartels are blocking all major roads and freeways.
Guadalajara, Chihuahua, Durango and Acapulco Norte are also under seige where they are both under statewide lockdown orders and some were warned by Cartels to stay at home the next couple days... Schools closed too.
How much do Mexican security services have to suck that they let Cartels blockade highways for days. Fucking US cops would go apeshit, bring in tanks and shit. Helicopters with machine guns, it would be the highlight of their rotten lives.
Most US cops, in the face of real opposition, would be about as brave as Uvalde police during a school shooting. I mean, sure, if the cartels were made up of a couple of grannies, or some protesting students, they'd be all over it like Trump on a 13 year old. But they're not.
The police have overwhelming force. There are a lot of them, they can call for backup, more cops, to national guard. They have militarized gear, military surplus, and the national guards have real military gear to a degree. Even then they could call for help from people and form militias. The cartels wouldn't stand a chance.
Someone else is clearly discussing the whole army vs national guard etc. but it's also worth noting, these cartel members also have access to some serious hardware too.
It's a lot of dudes with assault rifles yeah, but they have been found to have a lot more heavy gear. Armor piercing rounds/weapons, plate carriers, armored/up armored vehicles, even surface to air missiles.
The Mexican military isn't just sitting there with their thumbs up their asses, they're doing what they can. But they're not dealing with a few jagoffs with shotguns and AKs, this is an organized militant group spread through the country that activated and started shit across the country overnight. That's not something you can just whip crack in a day and remove like a nail in a tire.
The national guard is the military, they have military gear. Just straight up, access to all the military gear that exists. They have the same jobs, and training and same equipment as the active duty counterpart.
The national guard is under the control of the states, excepting presidents commandeering them in an emergency. They also are like weekend warriors, people that live in the state and are like part time. The military is people that are on full time terms, outside the areas they live in, and with vastly more advanced gear. But yeah they both are military but not the same at all.
Active duty marines or army in the streets is quite different than national guard.
This is the Army National Guard, they are by design held to the same training duty standards as their active duty counterpart. If we were talking about the army reserves I could see your point, as they don’t have combat roles, but the National Guard does. There is no marine corp national guard, there is however a marine reserve, which is again a different thing still than the national guard.
They have the same uniforms, the same service name tapes, use the same equipment, basic and advanced training, deploy to the same areas overseas to do the same jobs. They are also subject to UCMJ when in uniform. Can go even go active duty upon to request.
It’s literally not that different
I might be mistaken to some degree I don't know that much of the armed forces, I was just referring to the national guard that every state has, at the control of the governor. Idk about any army national guard or reserve specifically. But the National Guard's that State's control while they do have heavy gear, including tanks and armoured vehicles, and I know there are even air national guards and such, I am pretty sure don't keep as much gear as the army/marines/navy proper does.
Like the advanced bombers/fighters, drones including predators, loitering munitions, those ray guns and experimental stuff, white phosphourous and all sorts of nasty bombs and anti personnel stuff, guided missiles, chemical and biological weapons, and so forth. Not to the same degree. They exist more to back up the State domestically but I'm not sure the exact relations with the feds and whatever else, only that the feds can seize control, and that the democrats helped pass a law in 2009 or so making it easier for the president to seize control of a state's national guard if they declare a national emergency, a self declared unqualified designation.
Also I know those reservists and others that usually don't serve overseas were often grabbed by the Bush administration and sent to Iraq, often driving trucks on airport road and such, the most dangerous job with all the ied's.
Well, try living someplace labelled '3rd world' where poverty is so bad that said Police are often paid off by companies and cartels who offer a living wage.
Those not paid off are often threatened or worse: disappear and are found months later in a shallow pit.
So no, it's not that Mexico's Federales nor National Guard nor Police 'suck' so much as poverty sucks. Poverty proliferates corruption which ultimately brings out the worst in all humanity.
Cartels taking this shit out on the people sucks. Corruption sucks. Ignorance here is also 'sucks'.
I do remember reading the police aren't paid enough to get by without money under the table. They buy their own bullets, have to buy their own air conditioners in cars, and whatever else. Same up and down the line, judges, what have you. Everyone is on the take, it's presumed everyone is, and it costs society a lot more than paying them a living wage and keeping them in line.
But this is an ongoing problem that's gotten worse, their public hates the cartels for the violence, but they've been unable to at least get the local police in charge of their own states? Something is off with their leadership from the top down. Either than, or maybe they just need a hug!.
It's gotta be rough when the local gangs have better financing than the local pd
Local gangs are partially funded by cartels with international drug empires funneling cash from places like the United States.
Making drugs illegal doesn't prevent people from using them, the demand is still there and someone will fill it. It just inflates the prices because of the layers and dangers involved with importing the drugs, there is no tax revenue, and the money eventually leaves the country instead of being recirculated like a normal economy.
And that doesn't even get into the societal impacts. Or the underlying mental/psychological reasons people turn to the drugs in the first place that aren't being addressed by society. But it does mean a nice constant stream of "criminals" into the penal system that can legally be used as slave labor.
The best thing the US could do to fight the cartels would be to legalize and regulate the drug trade. Take away their massive funding source.
Which US cops exactly? The ones that hid outside of a school with one single shooter inside? I know they have a giant boner for their hard guy cosplay hobby, but let's keep it real.
US cops are only bold when they outnumber AND outgun their adversary.
2 cops vs 20 protestors, those cops will run. 200 cops vs 20k protestors, again, the cops will run or lose everything.
The strategy used by the cartel is to create an asymmetric warfare environment by creating so many individual crises that the cops can't respond to them all en-force, and by disrupting and degrading movement, communications, logistics, and intelligence.
The fires are very visible yes, but it wouldn't surprise me if the cartels were also targeting telecom infrastructure, attempting to jam radio, targeting police infra, electrical infra, and airspace.
When you're outgunned by the adversary, your best bet is to disperse them thin, so you can pick and choose where you concentrate your force.
The thing is the police have unlimited backup, and better gear than any criminal group. They can call to state police, neighnoring departments. They have militarized gear, literally military surplus, and they can call for national guard backup, that has masses of armoured vehicles, machine guns, all sorts of heavier equipment. More helicopters with machine guns on them, all sorts of stuff. Drones. Then if the police needed help they could ask for militia help, even deputize some of them.
The security services are not lacking for firepower, it would be the worst mistake a cartel ever did if it tried this in the US, political leaders would crusade against them.
It helps when you're better armed than the Ukrainian army.