Too Fast, Too Furious: The Death of a Jalisco Police Chief

The killing of police officers and police chiefs in Mexico is unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence in that country over the past few years. Drug cartels wage war on each other and law enforcement on a daily basis there. What is special about the death of a police chief, Luis Lucio Rosales Astorga in Jalisco earlier this year is that it appears the weapon used to kill him was part of the cache of weapons that entered Mexico and landed in the hands of the various cartels as a result of the ATF sting operation known as 'Fast and Furious'. It is the deepest penetration into Mexico of weapons from the ill-fated venture.

Operation Fast and Furious was an attempt by US authorities to follow the flow of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico by allowing the weapons to make it past the border. Problems developed when US authorities lost track of the weapons. As a result about 1500 semi-automatic and automatic weapons have been used to kill an unknown number of Mexican civilians and law enforcement officers(with the numbers increasing almost daily). Also killed was US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.  

Several ATF officials were forced to resign as a result of a House investigation into the fiasco. US Attorney General Eric Holder's involvement in the decisions that led to the approval of the plan is still unclear, and he is facing Contempt of Congress charges for failing to turn over all the documents subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the events.

It is interesting to note that Democrats have been quick to point the finger of responsibility at the George W. Bush administration because it ran a similar program in 2007. They of course forget to acknowledge that when the Bush administration ran their program, they did so in cooperation with Mexican police officials so it would be easier to keep track of the weapons involved. Democrats also forgot to mention that the target was American straw-buyers and no guns were allowed to cross the US-Mexican border. Oops!! Details, details, details, my dear Democrats and liberals!

Perhaps before President Obama leaves office, we will have the truth about who knew what and when they knew it. Remember that the biggest mistake that politicians make when they try to cover their errors is that THEY TRY TO COVER THEIR MISTAKES instead of coming clean early.

The biggest part of the problem with Fast and Furious is the steadily increasing body count---victims of the weapons that the President has so forcibly come out against and wants to ban here in the US. If the President and certain members of his Cabinet in the law enforcement had shared this view when it came to Mexican citizens, perhaps Police Chief Luis Lucio Rosales Astorga and hundreds of other Mexicans would still be alive today.

By Being Latino Contributor, Jeffery Cassity Jeffery Cassity is a mostly socially-liberal, fiscally-conservative Anglo male who is involved in his local Hispanic community as the widower of a 1st generation Mexican-American woman and his active, some would say hyperactive, membership in the local Council of the League of Latin American Citizens(LULAC). Be sure to also follow my articles on the Sacramento Press website