How China Is Fueling the Mexican Cartel Wars (with Ed Calderon) - Change Agents with Andy Stumpf

they're all feeding a giant organization that is also supplying the United States with drugs and other horrible things and they're also fueling a war that's killing and consuming Humanity in in Mexico at a rate that is sometimes out out surpasses a war setting how can I help how can I be useful in ending needless suffering do not be afraid of work that has no end we have to organize a social movement we have an opportunity to lead by example versus just talking hot air I think the more people in this fight the more we grow eventually it could change you the people are the ones that can make the change ladies and gentlemen welcome back to change agents in Ironclad original presented by Montana night company today's episode is about the rise of the Mexican drug cartel the power that they wield from the perspective of former Mexican counternarcotics officer Ed Calderon Ed Calderon is a security specialist and an instructor with operational experience along the US Mexico border he was born in Tijana and he spent years in law enforcement with an operations group specializing in counternarcotics anti- abduction and high-risk close protection for high-profile individuals Ed has consulted with and trained federal law enforcement agencies on both side of the border from the FBI to bortac and intelligence Service agents on both sides of the US Mexico border he also hosts the manifesto Radio podcast a few stats about the power of the Mexican drug cartels the US attorney general Merck gardland has recently said that the mexico-based caloa cartel is the largest most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world from a PBS NewsHour investigation Mexico and China are the primary sources for Fentanyl and Fentanyl related substances trafficked directly into the US according to the Drug Enforcement Administration more than 100,000 deaths a year have been linked to drug overdoses since 2020 and most of them are fentanyl related this is a topic specifically fentol that has come up on every episode that I have done with Specialists whether they are talking about the southern side of the Mexico border we're working specifically the northern side of the Mexico border so let's dig into this and I hope you enjoy the conversation with Mr Ed Calon if you could uh give me the wave Toops of what your career looked like in the Police Service in Mexico sure sure um I mean firstly the uh the operational side which is where everybody gets started there uh you get divided up into uh groups small groups I think like the first one I was a part of was about 12 12 man strong uh these cells would be basically moved around the city uh randomly by a command structure up top we wouldn't know where we were going at times um we would get handed orders down and we had sites that we would exploit basically hey this building that building over there these are people of Interest we need you to disrupt whatever they're doing there so B basically she had starting stuff is what we did operationally at the start uh we would hit a house and that house would lead us to find a few Blackberry phones or laptop or guns or people's names somewhere and we would have people there we interrogate those guys and that would lead into a whole night of finding other houses um this was every night um you can't go on vacation the first year you're active so so basically you work every [ __ ] day what what what came who came up with that rule probably some [ __ ] um interesting policy for sure yeah so first year of it no no stopping you would go from Night Shift to to day shift every two weeks uh single day of uh a single day of being off and and you just go it's it's every day uh living in a military Barracks uh for some of it living in hotels and living in government buildings you can't live on your own because it's suicide um so as soon as I got out and I was started working operationally I started getting a good reputation and people started pulling me into more specialized groups and more specialized units at the at that time there was a there was a there was a pretty active and forward commander who took notice of my work and basically har grabbed me as part of his um close protection uh a guy basically a bodyguard of A Sort but we're basically working together in this specialized things anything that was high impact that's that's where we went uh that was the start of my career uh there that that that that was years of that probably two three years of that we would work with the military uh a lot they didn't know their way around the city uh we work with the first uh version of the feder of the Mexican federal police as you see it now they back then they were basically army guys dressed in gray that would ride in the back of the trucks with their faf uh with not with G3 H&K G3 rifles giant some of them were shorter than the rifles you know and most of these people that are in the military in Mexico specifically the ones that were in Baja were from Southern States so they didn't know their way around and they were completely out of their element so we would be embedded with them um it was a lot of running around at night and a lot of running around during the day basically uh doing very hairy and scary things um uh that was three years almost four of my career um and even when we got the ability to have vacation time I I I think I spent three years without going on vacation when I finally did it was because of a of a severe head injury that it had during during a work related altercation um it was during some of the I mean this is 2004 and forward this is right at the start of the militarization of the drug war of the kickoff of it basically um we were being used as an experiment in a lot of ways things that they would do in a micro at a micro level in Baja were then done at a macro level across the country um so uh that led to us being trained in the US uh by uh people from the Department of the Navy it led us to be trained here in Mexico by other members of the military in the US that would come and advise and train us into a lot a lot of things that we didn't uh have any concept of and uh we got a reputation uh a a good one at least at the beginning uh we were the on that would show up when they call you know we were trusted we were uh we one of the we were the best paid police organization in Mexico not only that we were certified by an American policing certification program called Kia so we were we were doing good work you know the actually certified by an American police uh certification in Mexico as Mexicans that was unheard of and still is pretty mind-boggling to think about that um issues started happening you know of course like a lot of people that I was working with would flip um you know you could be trusted and go through all the verifications and background tests you want and polygraph test but somebody shows up with the right number you know and you could flip on it you people would flip uh you know as you're describing this I was just thinking about kind of that situation it could either be a number or it could be leverage yeah it sounds like you guys were definitely targeting cartel activity and maybe you don't have like exact data to support this but I'm curious your thoughts now looking back you guys were obviously focused on the cartel how much do you think the cartel was focusing on you guys and trying to figure out how you guys were a lot I mean I I my phone that was a government phone got called to many times yeah that only people that were in that group would know um we got targeted directly you know that again the whole hunting of cops was directed at us that whole propaganda thing they did because they were engaged in propaganda they had people in the media you know they had people within our institutions for recruitment uh we found an emergency contact list in one of the safe houses we hid for ourselves so it was it was uh everybody knew about this one at least of people that I work with so nobody was well nobody in my my immediate close group of people that I work with would be was stupid enough to go home after work uh we would go headed to a military Barrack to stay at or keep ourselves basically uh clear which led to a bunch of issues again uh basically meant that I couldn't have a relationship with anybody my family saw me every now and then I would show up like a ghost randomly at parties and stuff like that not announced um suicide was a big thing in my uh in my uh unit I I lost a few people to that and it's pretty much related to both the pressures of work and also the pressures of not having having any sort of personal life the isolation aspect of it was horrible for some of us for me too I mean I just uh I I was I had already been through that for since I was 13 so I think for me it was just a natural fit but for some of them it was pretty devastating uh but there was a con con and when you say when when I say cartel you know it's not one cartel Tijuana at that time was basically a war zone between two large factions of the scol cartel and the local Tijuana or Ariano Felix cartel and both of them had interest in either using us as a tool influ our actions or killing us if we got in the way um and the only support we had of any gun was through the military uh and even they [Music] were everybody has a side in Mexico there's always influence uh people have to realize you know and I get called out a lot because hey you were part of that in corrupt institution you're corrupt too uh that doesn't work that way money doesn't you know money doesn't flow down you know money flows up [ __ ] flows down you know anything that we would find or people would get we were not in any position to negotiate with anybody or do anything because we didn't know where we're going to be the next day because that we were that comp compartmentalized uh but some of the higher ups you know you the the guy at the top of this of the security structure in Mexico at that point is now ined custody for cartel ties in the US Martine Luna he was the one that was in charge of verifying that all of us were be to like went through the uh through the filtering process and that we were to be trusted that's who was in charge of that whole thing and he turned out to be a a you know cartel guy so how long how long did you do the job for 12 years all in all 12 years when did you when did you know it was time to move on to the next uh uh I I went through a I went through I mean that operational experience that I had and as a way to as a we we' say we would say to cool me down because I went through years of it and it became apparent to to some of my superiors that I was I was burnt out uh I was a functional alcoholic at that point uh had severe head trauma but that was undiagnosed um PTSD that doesn't even that wasn't even considered as a thing back then um and a bunch of other issues that I had going on and um there was an alignment of time where I was basically they were trying to figure out where to put me to to cool me off and uh the whole of the security team of the governor of Baja California was found out to be cartel plants of A Sort and and infiltrated so I was going to start my vacation process and and all of sudden I was called in to get interviewed by the director of the of of the institution that I was a part of H to see if I would be willing to take on the responsibility of the governor and his family as far as the head of security um which I had no [ __ ] clue how I even do dude I've never bought a suit in my [ __ ] life I didn't know anything about convoys I don't know anything about armored vehicles I didn't know [ __ ] about any of that luckily I had trained with members of nsw then had experience uh in Afghanistan like doing car size protection detail and yeah some of them had done State Department packages across the globe for [ __ ] so that's who the first people I called were them and they kind of schooled me on some of the things that I needed to kind of get into my head as far as that he was one one of the most at risk uh governors in the country not only because of the fact that he was the governor of Baja but also he was basically going hand inhand with Philipe Calderone at that time who kicked off the drug war who was a very close friend of his and he was also the head of the National Security Council so he was a very very hot potato uh so I basically had to develop this overt military security apparatus around him in two days I mean at least they give you you know a lot of time yeah two days and figure this out then uh imagine a skinny I how old I don't even know how old I probably 26 27 I'm dressed like [ __ ] you know I had a mohawk when I was operational at sometimes we have any [ __ ] standard I'm here for it I I support that yeah I walked into a car armoring place in Tijuana one of the first ones that came that uh that opened uh to ask to see the guy because I was there to ask to buy four armored vehicles and they left me in that [ __ ] waiting room for about an hour and a half I know who the [ __ ] I was um and then when they found out you know I'm here to buy for who the [ __ ] are you uh it was a learning experience uh yeah he uh he basically uh again took to took the fight to them um it was uh it was very apparent that I went from a you know Act direct action go and get people to now let's try and keep this guy from not being got and his family from not being God and also we have to regain the trust of these people because all the people that were here before us [ __ ] that up so that was towards the uh the the the second half of my career I I went into that um I learned a lot traveled a lot went to Washington a few times traveled in the US a few times traveled across the country uh got to see how some of these strategizing planning and execution of some of these processes and policies that actually had a great success in Tijuana and Baja specifically I think it's one of the only successes in the drug war if you can say that uh that they were uh in in that whole period and uh I finished well in that job you know uh uh he went out of office and like everything when that that happens people go back to where they're from and I went back to operational work which I did for three more years um and it was basically imagine you uh you know you do all this work you set up all this training you set up all these processes and everything is set up in such a way we trust all the people there and all that is set up and you you think that's going to be waiting for you when you get out um most of the filtering process they did like polygraphs and and background checks and some of the investigations that led to a lot of the people that I used to work with being let go or fired from the job because of lack of confidence got hired back because uh they went legal and a lot of them basically got a lot of that overturned so known cartel Associates and plants were now waiting for me at the office on my way back and I've just been very Visual and visibly next to one of the guys that went after all of them and I would was received with a lot of hostility ladies and gentlemen I could not be more fired up to introduce the presenting sponsor for season 2 of change agents Montana Knife Company founded by somebody that I feel very fortunate to call a personal friend Master blades Smith Josh Smith not only a master blad Smith but the youngest Master blad Smith and one of the most experienced in the world Montana Knife Company blades are some of the finest that I've ever been able to get my hands on they are the sharpest knife out of the box and they're some of the easiest to resharpen when you dull the blade I take them everywhere that I go I have them in every vehicle that I own and every backpack that I ever take into the back country specifically my favorite blade of theirs is the speed goat it's lightweight 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you obviously were in this role yeah the cartel was looking for you guys but you're still living in Tijana do they I'm not not I'm yeah yeah yeah can move around so is but does the risk diminish do you think the cartel gives a [ __ ] about you anymore or like once you hang the Hat up they don't give a [ __ ] so one thing I really happy about is that I I was never one of the information guys like I never had access to anything uh and all the leadership roles I had were basically like the farthest I went in the uh command structure I was a regional subcommander that was the highest I went into into the uh into the power structure it's uh subcommander Regional commander and from there it's subdirector and director so that's that's where I was so Bas again people would tell me where to go so I didn't have any plans of my own I never took anything personal I never stole anything I never grabbed anything for myself I went through a [ __ ] ton of confident exams and they looked into all of my things because of the access and the people that I was working with directly and also I was replacing people that were found out to be pland so they went through me they went through all my [ __ ] for the fine tooth comb um the two major organizations that were fighting and Out Back Then basically killed each other off uh a lot of those people that were back working back then and a lot of the people that we worked against are either debt or in prison or irrelevant realistically in that process because that's a phenomenon that happens in Mexico is you cut one hand off and it turns into two yep or you cut one hand off and then the other head changes name changes strategy and changes the whole thing and it's a whole different on animal now um I I do I do travel to TJ I don't live in Tijuana I do travel to TJ and I keep my you know my eyes open and stuff like that but I never took anything I was never part of any team I never worked on any of the sides I kept myself clean and uh there was a the man that I work for lieutenant colonel liola uh again one of he got n he has nine assassination attempts on and you know the last one took the use of his legs I had him on the podcast recently uh the podcast that I run out of Tijana he he had a he had a warrant out for his arrest at the time we filmed that podcast uh because the powers at be don't like him and don't like anybody that worked on that at that time you know all of us are basically war criminals in a lot of in their eyes so a lot of the pressure and the risk I guess I I see and feel is not from former cartel Associates of any kind it's mostly political that's the that's what I worry about specifically I talk a lot about China I talk a lot about the current government the corruption levels that it has in a very public way of talked to Congress about it congressman and people in Congress about it I speak about it openly in a lot of giant uh platforms and a platform like this one so that's what I worry about specifically you know that's the risk I take nobody like me is out there with a voice because I don't know either they didn't survive or they didn't figure out how to get here well I like that you focus on those things and I like that you're vocal about them I've talked with the a few people from journalists to you know border patrol agents working on the American side and we've talked about everything from from you know child CRA trafficking fentanyl um a variety of issues and it's interesting how a lot of it does come back to China you know China's not making fentanyl but perhaps they're shipping all of the precursors to Mexico where fentanyl is being made and then it's it's working its way up can you give me because I do want to talk about China sure can you give me a snapshot of the current situation I I mean everything from the police not necess the units that you used to work with but just the overall tie between you know cartels and police and the corruption there and then the political side as well the reason I ask you is if you go to it almost seems impossible I a better way to frame it would be I don't know where to point people towards in the US in the media where they're not being fed a galactic amount of [ __ ] about what is going on yeah um so first off uh first off I'm an IM an immigrant to the US I did it legally and I am earning my way to citizenship I I am part of a business and I have Charities that we work with we've raised money for veterans we do a lot uh I'm not a journalist I am somebody like yourself that uh through experience gained a knowledge base that is now part of our opinion on things um I don't talk about things from I remember or I think this is what happened I was there for some of the origin points of some of the issues that are now exploding uh in the US I mean I was a part of the group that found the first cartel drone on the border like I I found one of the first quad drones with a giant load of meth underneath it and I had to Google what the [ __ ] I was looking at right um the uh I also was a part of a lot of training and I trained a lot of uh members of law enforcement in Mexico and I have connections and still talk to a lot of them who are spread uh uh spread uh between some of the army SF groups some of the uh Marina SF groups also some of the federal units and what the remains of them because it was an institution that was completely gutted uh by the current leftist organization that is running Mexico um so my opinions come from that Baseline uh I have no stakes in the game I am not part of any political party of of any kind and I can't vote in the United States still till I get in citizenship so I want to preface everything by that first um Mexico is I think like right now it's it's it's in it's in a civil war that is basically being ignored it's it's very much a civil war of A Sort and the first indication that I saw of China's participation and all of this was specifically in in related to the ports of Mexico mexo um anything that comes into Mexico from the ocean comes through a port and all the ports are militarized in Mexico they're run by the department of the Navy in Mexico the amount of times that we saw members of these units and as far as higher ups uh and again we had eyes and ears everywhere as as well as probably they did uh so we would witness uh you know Chinese businessmen that would on giant madas or business interest in in Baja and other places have meetings with members of these institutions that were weird you know um I got to witness the shift of of the shift of uh you know some of these uh methamphetamine crystal meth uh processes go from like small batches in some weird lab laboratory somewhere to now Industrial Level loads of it with giant crystal shards showing up on on the on the street and also showing up in cars that were loaded up to go to the US and a few times we found some Chinese Nationals in some of these Laboratories basically showing and educating some of these people to do what they do uh it became quickly apparent to me and to anybody I asked because we like who do we ask you we did our research I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine who was in the intelligence Community he said that any any Chinese National is part of the Chinese State and such that they're all members of they're all they're all Chinese intelligence basically there's no such thing a separating you know Chinese criminals and that are acting independently of the Chinese State this doesn't work that way like everybody country structured yeah everybody's in on it basically and as soon as we start asking and poking around and commenting on that [ __ ] we were shut down immediately so we knew I knew there was something there um and this is early on when that methamphetamine started being basically mass-produced and then it shifted to fenel as soon as the marijuana legalization happened and products started shifting and uh things started changing around that and then giant pot grows in Mexico started not being as valuable as they were in the past uh somebody started figuring out that you can take some of that low potency heroin grown on some of those fields and had feny into it and these people were not Mexicans these these were Chinese Nationals that were already in Mexico as part of the pharmaceutical industry because that's that's their that's their foothold in Mexico that's how they got into Mexico mhm um there's a famous case of a Chinese Mexican National send Lee J gone which has the record as far as the amount of money uh found in a single drug related bust over a hundred million in his house in cash in cash holy [ __ ] that must have been a big house it was a lot of suitcases and it was everywhere there luxury watches so like people were counting that money naked in a room it was it was a whole thing um that's what I'm talking about yeah and when you see that case and you see what he was involved in he was involved in legitimate pharmaceutical industry stuff in Mexico so was it wasn't like they were smuggling hidden containers of fenel or methamphetamine precursors and that like a a secret compartment a hole in a ship they were pumping it in directly into the pharmaceutical industry and guess who was a part of that pharmaceutical industry you know some of these members of some of these cartels were basically there just take well well take this for us and do that uh so that's how that start started to grow um we start to see uh and I think the US cut on to it later uh we started to see some of the Chinese banking industry and some of these banking Maneuvers that they were doing in their own money processes having some links to places in the US you know that's how they would make money disappear on the US side and make it appear on the Mexican side uh money Brokers from China that were using some of the Chinese institutions to move around some of that cash some of that money you know in the past you would see uh cars loaded with money driving down to Mexico you know that you would see some of that that's not that common anymore because that's p a you know not using that anymore so you started seeing clear evolution of some of these criminal organizations wasn't their influence from some of the supply networks in China and then uh I guess probably four probably six years ago almost seven I guess you start seeing a clear sign that at least one of these giant criminal organizations in Mexico the new generation cartel was very very much being supplied and equipped by some sort of pipeline from Southeast Asia uh uh people have seen the videos of these guys wearing signal disruptors on their kit basically these modules that will interrupt any sort of ability for somebody to call out or phone or radio or some different frequency a jammer for lack of a better term used to use as well yeah imagine those but made in China and smaller you know yeah and each of them are they're carrying a bunch of them on them and they have a bunch of bootleg Blackhawk gear on made in China and a bunch of uh plate armor and helmets that clearly made in China and a bunch of just super like a bunch of tactical gear that clearly comes from Southeast Asian China and drones and um pill presses that are manufactured and sold by official institutions in China that are now being utilized to make bogus pain medication with fenal laced in them and all that originates from a Pacific Side based cartel the new generation cartel who has access and control over some of the major ports like the one in kma manania and you can clearly see a pipeline and a sign that they're basically In Cahoots and or somehow influence or proxy by Gina and when I started talking about this way back when I think I I talked about it the first time I was on Rogan I was I was called I was called I was [ __ ] making [ __ ] up or I was hallucinating this or conspiracy of some sort you know or I was somehow racist for saying that in anti-china and I when when uh when Co hit the senena law cartel was smuggling fenel from the US into Mexico to load their drugs because they don't have access to the Pacific side ports and the new generation cartel exploded in influence and power during that time because the pipelines didn't close for them supposedly China was in lockdown you know why were ships still showing up do you think that that relationship between China I'm just trying to think about you know is it mutually beneficial from a monetary perspective or do you think that China is at a point in their supply chain because especially if the economics of the cartel is largely being derived through that trafficking is it at a point where China can actually exert influence over those cartels and almost use them as a proxy against the us if they want to I I think it's clear that at least with one of them it's true it's it's probably true uh with the new generation Cardel you've you we've heard stories and there's a bunch of people out there that are way more qualified to talk about this but I'll speak about what I've known and heard of illegal iron or mining uh along the Pacific side of the country uh that these cartels would that they would hire cartels of security to basically keep people away from them uh there was a whole hoop laon line probably 10 years ago about these uh self-defense uh organizations that came up in Mexico these AO defensas you would see them wearing white t-shirts I think Netflix actually did a documentary on some of these guys it turns out that none of them most of them were not citizens arming themselves to fight the cartels they were just basically another version of the cartels uh trying to gain control of a whole Plaza and some of these guys were being hired by illegal mining operations in that area to extract iron ore um so yeah yeah they they've they've clearly figured out ways of manipulating and using some of these influences and and uh they I mean I think they've done the same in places like Africa um but what I see is yes they are clearly probably being used as a proxy group of some sort now I don't think their intentions are just uh exploitative as far as exploiting resources and making money off them I see them as a weapon a weapon of of destabilization and influence in your second largest trading partner in the world and also your neighbor to the South that's what I see morning everybody as you know change agents is an ironclad original but what you may not know is that for over a decade Ironclad has worked with Brands and individuals to create worldclass films series podcasts and AD campaigns in fact I've been working with Ironclad for the past few years I was introduced to them on a project through the Navy SEAL Foundation I've worked with them on a variety of projects even up here in Montana long before they proposed the idea of change agents to me they're the best in their field and I say that because there are plenty of people out there looking for the best looking for the cream of the crop looking for the top of the triangle and if you're looking for that you need to look no further than Ironclad if you ever need media by way of film a series podcasts or ad campaigns they have you covered you can reach out today and follow them anywhere at this is Ironclad the Amper sand and then this is Ironclad or visit them online this is Ironclad decom again www this is Ironclad decom you have China is one of the largest if not the largest trading partner for the US so from an economic consumer facing I mean where do your Apple computers come from and your iPhones if you ever order one and you check the shipping label I'm here to tell you right now it comes from China with a lot of other things and so they have that economic front and then on the back end I mean it's it's a long Long play but destabilizing the country in and of itself through what they are pumping through using the cartels if that is in fact what they are doing but d destabilizing a large P portion of populace of the United States yeah the things that the but an interesting two-sided uh battle though you know it's very asymmetrical you see the uh you see the political structure in Mexico right now basically being formed a single unit there's no competition there's a single political party in Mexico right now we're getting we're heading into venez territory all airspace in Mexico is now militarized all ports are militarized the Army is patrolling the streets in a policing role there's no alternative party and the only party right now is running on a platform that is openly uh openly supporting uh Venezuela and Russia it's uh openly anti-america an anti- us um it's utilizing um it's utilizing migrant ation in some of these carab as a weapon and as a bargaining chip and where have you seen that before I mean the PO the it's right now in Poland they're basically doing the same play with the immigrations weaponizing them uh people are thinking it's a conspiracy theory they can look at how that's going uh that's going on in that part of the world and how Russians are using the the same processes of uh weaponizing immigration um but you're seeing a shift in politics in Mexico that is very to the left and it's very openly uh pro-china and pro- Russia uh you you one of the political candidates that didn't make it past the uh the uh the uh election process as far as their their their what candidate were going to put forth by the name of uh IAT uh unveiled this uh National Security program that he wanted to to implement in Mexico which is still going to go forward just another under another name and basically showcased AI uh facial identification um monitoring surveillance systems that are all sourced directly from China and you would see this giant picture of xingping on one end you know behind them as far as like China's giving us this technology we're gonna fight these cartels and we're going to read their license plate and all this technolog is going to be utilized against them we're basically going to be turned into a giant magnifying uh m micophone and magnifying glass uh on your Southern border we're going to be part of the Chinese state in a lot of ways that's that's people can say it's a conspiracy and I get a lot of [ __ ] hate and and and heat from it but people with eyes get to see we have we will tell you Mexico is turning into the Venezuela like uh Place uh you described it as you know Mexico right now is going through a civil war if you were a betting man who would be the victor of that how do you think it plays itself out I mean the one the on right now who's winning the military complex is winning in Mexico that's who's behind every the power in Mexico um we had a recent uh Wikileaks style leak of documents from the Mexican military and they themselves will tell you that certain parts of their institutions will favor one cartel or the other they're basically playing chess with these people and taxing them so they win um China's influence and interest clear interest in exploiting some of the uh resources in Mexico are there you know the us obviously has a lot of interest in that as well uh but the practices that China has uh put forth in other parts of the world uh leave a lot to the imagination as far as uh it being beneficial or not uh it's Mexico is clearly being utilized as a fire underneath your feet um if people don't believe that look at the border just look at the border right now and the amount of people that are being not only bust and driven up there you see videos of people on trains you see people videos of people walking you rarely see videos of these [ __ ] buses that somebody's paying for in cash busing people straight to the border and you also very rarely see videos and this is something that's a direct call out to the media because uh people see this directly and somehow the media isn't [ __ ] covering any of this [ __ ] uh a group of people with children and women coming into a bus on the southern border and then the Bus full of men just showing up on the northern border where are the kids where the children where are the women you know yeah um this is obviously a weapon that is being utilized against the United States and it's a de destabilization weapon of some sort um and also people need to [ __ ] get over the fact these aren't Mexican migrants of the past that would come across and and then then go into construction and build most of the housing housing in California that that lend into some [ __ ] later this that's not who's coming across that border prisons are being emptied out in most of South and in Central America and South America and where do you think they're they're legitimately emptying out prisons and [ __ ] putting them on their way and not all of them some of them these are people from Africa you know North Africa uh these are people from Southeast Asia Chinese Nationals a [ __ ] ton of Chinese Nationals there with passports Chinese passports um they're from everywhere and you know people worry about the the drugs and you know coming across that border the biggest Money Maker for the cartels right now is taxing people that cross that border that's their biggest money maker they're in control of that um it's clear to anybody that has eyes to see and this is not a political statement I guess um immigration in the US is a political thing when I talk about it apparently the type of milk that you buy in the US is a political thing if I talk about immigration I'm immediately called that I'm a pro Trump guy or like [ __ ] conservative or some sort of sellout um I would ask all these people to walk with me through some of these immigration sites on the Mexican side so you can see the amount of exploitation murder rape disappearances of children and worse that I've seen on this side and then then the same [ __ ] happens on that other side you know some of these people can't afford to pay their way across you know we just went through a black lives matter statue destroying cancel the police era in the US and people were talking about slavery and reparations there's currently slaves in the United States that are basically trying to pay off their Crossing into the United States illegally to cartels and they're slaves they're really modern slaves that are living right now in the United States and government governor governor new in California during Co had his [ __ ] Winery still open and the all of them were illegal workers working there um I read a statistic recently um in terms of slavery and you know obviously it's Up For Debate onto what people want to describe historical slavery versus the modern era slavery that you're talking about but most people who are looking into it say that there are more people in modern era slavery right now than there ever were in the history of humanity I mean I guess if imagine walking into a room where there's a 15-year-old girl that basically Services six men a day in a hotel room and you're you're going to imagine this is somewhere in Mexico probably it's in Arizona yeah and she's owned and she's not going to get some of that money and you know better her life or move forward she's not a sex worker she's a slave the capital of abductions in the United States is Arizona that's the capital of abductions in the United States and there's some [ __ ] happening there that people don't realize there's a there's an assumption or a feeling and again on both sides of the political spectrum because I have friends on both sides um that yeah we need to build the the wall to keep to keep that [ __ ] from coming here it's already here it's been here for years growing um I think we're past a solution that is just going to be S as simple as closing off that border and it's part of it but it's not the whole solution what would you recommend as a potential solution I mean first off treating this as a legitimately Regional problem not the Mexico us problem because it's a regional problem now um being better as Americans and speaking to representatives to audit every single scent that is being sent down to Mexico and that has been sent down to Mexico for the government to fight this war on your behalf down there think about this when I started my career the solution to fighting cartels was putting a bunch of us in the back of trucks and chasing these [ __ ] around what are you seeing right now in Mexico the same thing the same Solution that's the same solution you hear stories about special uh Special Forces I think there was a group of 11 s uh US Army SF guys that went down to Mexico to train some of the elite units in Mexico those guys don't do those guys are not going to make a dent in anything they're going to arrest the they just arrested the uh the son of a former cartel head in Guan who they but they arrested their dad two years his dad two years ago that supposedly stopped everything right no [ __ ] no they just arrested his son burnt a bunch of [ __ ] cars uh during Christmas they murdered 12 12 young men and women that were part of a Christmas party in Wan and they didn't want to allow one of these cartel guys to come in there but he wasn't invited so what he do came back and shot all of them I mean this is a problem that is just past every everything that we I mean I've seen the solutions that me Mexico has in front of them as far as what they're trying to do they not none of that's going to work or do anything I think it's time to for the US to legitimately audit what it's been doing down there as far as influence money and and policy and legit cut that flow of money off until this [ __ ] legitimate solution where there's a lot of things that actually you can actually audit down there as far as what's being done with that money I'm a taxpayer too now in the US and a lot of that money and I I received that some of that money uh through payment as far as my my salary uniforms training Vehicles Weaponry but I'm I'm here to tell you that that's it's the same money that's being pumped down there I don't see we are entering the last year was the most violent year in Mexico's history with all that money and all that support and all that Chapa Guzman was arrested by uh us intelligence and uh the Mexican Marines doing their thing what did that do nothing realistically it didn't do anything it turned one guy into three kids and they've been doing their thing now and you arrested his son and that's not doing a thing to cartel or stop the drug flow and people flow into the United States and uh people are massacred and being murdered across the country and uh and that's and the numbers that are out there are supplied by the government and it's clear from some of the leag documents that they're not real numbers we outperformed Ukrainian War as far as murders and and death oh yeah during the first 72 hours we performed it do you think it's even possible to diminish or shut down the influence of the cartels in Mexico at this point or is it too far gone to be honest I think that's going to be your next War just right at the southern border I think that's going to be your next war and when I say A War I mean it's the Army isn't going to do anything and they're obviously compromised uh the government that they prop up or support is a leftist anti and pro pro-china and pro Russia government uh the amount of pressure that is being built up as far as uh some of these Caravans of humanity and again not all of them are criminal not all of them are bad not all of them have diseases that's all scary fear tactic [ __ ] that people say out there but they're all feeding a giant organization that is also supplying the United States with drugs and other horrible things and they're also fueling a war that's killing and consuming Humanity in in Mexico at a rate that is sometimes out out [ __ ] surpasses a war setting and somehow that's not in the front page news because I don't know why I don't know why that's being kind of kept quiet uh there's already talk about and how has been talk about for a while and I've talked to Congress on on this issue of naming some of these institutions and groups terrorist organizations and I was asked you know first off as a Mexican national also as a Mexican you know National somebody was born in Mexico somebody that actually fought against some of these organizations directly and saw some of the things that they're do and now with my activism you know talking to people that have gone through the process of escaping that if they qualify as a terrorist organization yes I mean you tell me um are they politicized all most of these including the current president who has visited El Chapa Guzman's Hometown six times during his administration and has met with his lawyer and all that and basically gave his condones when their jail toopa gan's mother died and also closed off Federal airspace over that area and called off the Army to be in that area so they can have their private funeral if anybody is doubting that they can look that [ __ ] up themselves and tell me if they don't have some sort of connection every single candidate political candidate in Mexico that has been assassinated probably has been assassinated either because they were sponsored by one cartel or the other that's why they were assassinated because these guys are political now um so they're politicized clearly uh they kill a bunch of reporters one of the most dangerous things to do in Mexico is that um we run a small Media company out of Mexico called demolir we don't run it but we support it and it's a sister company of ours basically and we I mean I worry about them every day you know it's and it's like a like what can we say what can't we say or are we getting too close to something you know that type of stuff it's scary um so yeah they have that they have they the Isis got their ideas for they highly produced execution videos from the cartels Narco blog was doing that [ __ ] before it was cool you know that's where the that's that's most of the traffic they got from from the Middle East and the ideas of how to export the terror aspect of executing somebody in a horrible way they got that idea from Mexican cartels so they um some of the weaponized drone technology that you're seeing Showcase in other parts of the world well some of that [ __ ] was first showcased here you know uh so it's very clearly a a space where some of these activities are very much terrorism you know uh we don't have a lot of iids although we have seen a proliferation of explosives now the mining level explosiv but we don't have a lot of spent or uh ordinance ring around like Iraq you know yeah but it's there and terror is definitely being utilized to put forth some of their influences in power not only in Mexico but in the US they're very much politicized they meet every single part of their criteria but if you name them if you name them a cartel the cartel's uh terrorist organizations then you have to analyze some of their dealings and uh if you go to BevMo and see some of the Tequilas on the stands some of those tequila brands are sponsors of terrorism now because they're basically owned and or managed and or have some sort of di to cartel organizations um some of the series on Netflix that paid some people for rights and paid other people for some other things you know the people that make money off any sort of things related to that and now now they're part of that I guess and uh also some of this money and some of the politics that are involved in it probably stem all the way into Washington Ed the picture you paint is a bleak one but I also I really kind of draw a blank against arguments against what you've said I mean I've seen it to a degree with my own eyes I think some of the hesitance to dig into those you know if you look at it like a tree you start working from the branches all the way to the uh you know the trunk of the tree and all the way down to the base I mean I don't think it's conspiratorial to have thoughts of well maybe they're not taking a look at it because they don't want to know what it actually leads to because they kind of already know what it leads to but they don't want to publicize directly yeah um it is a bleep picture but I think what you painted is an honest one and it leaves me you know maybe my final question for you to be respectful of your time is what can I mean what can the average citizen of the United States who probably obviously I don't speak for everybody but I I'll put out a broad assessment that I think is probably pretty accurate they don't know what to do they hear about the Border sometimes depending on what news Outlet they're hearing about it from they know that there are things going on there but they feel paralyzed and helpless what can your average citizen in the United States actually do number one is realize that Mexico is directly being utilized as the weapon against the United States by foreign powers specifically China and it's been said before a lot of the Russian operatives are like working against the US are based out of Mexico and a lot of the a lot of their operations are there so it's very much being utilized as the weapon immigration is being utilized as a weapon if people doubt that and people think that's some sort of conspiracy go to Europe and see how it's being utilized by the Russians on the Polish people um that's one thing another thing is that people need to wake up to the fact that we as taxpaying Americans and I include myself because I'm one of them now are pay for some of the supposed efforts against some of these things that are happening in Mexico but we're not too good at auditing any of it I'm here to tell you as somebody who was directly beneficiated by some of these uh some of these funds and that we work with some of these funds down there they're not they're not using them in the correct way that has to be audited directly somehow and that comes from us tax dollars and we have a right to see how that's being spent um it's impossible that we keep sending money down there and we just went through the most violent year in the history of Mexico it's the most dangerous year to be a Mexican in the history of Mexico with the amount of massacres murders and disappearances down there and also the fact that Mexico is basically now a giant Highway for the masses of the world that are trying to enter enter the United States because all of them are on the the assumption that it's an open door policy by the ad the Biden Administration and it's now or never before the other guy gets back into Power that's exactly coming from the mouths of people that are on that border right now so that needs to be questioned um in all probability your next major war is going to be a an American Continental war of some sort you know it's not going to be a war that you won't feel Mexico is your second largest you know trading partner as far as Regional trading partner imagine if we cut Supply off of we militarize that border we close it off and we cut supply of all the all of the drugs and fental and everything that comes through that border you're gonna experience a Health crisis that's going to rival even covid in the United States as far as all the people coming off that drugs withdrawals yeah and that's not something people consider but if you think this is going to be like a invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan or some sort of foreign war this is going to be a war you're going to smell and Fe people need to wake up to that fact if that's where we're headed and uh something has to be done this has to be prioritized it hasn't been prioritized in years and it's festered and grown to the to such an extent now that any action to deal with it is has is going to have to be extreme I don't want Mexico to be invaded by the US I've seen what that looks like in other parts of the world and I as as somebody that's from there I don't want that to happen I'm not a prop I'm not asking for that but that's where I see this [ __ ] is heading again that's a rough painting but I think as a population and as a country we would be better served to take a real hard close look at that painting as opposed to brushing it aside and saying ah you know I don't live on a border state so it's not really my issue I don't know anybody who's gotten a fentanyl or a drug addiction problem associated with the the cartels and their trafficking of drugs it's not really my issue we I think we have to stop looking away from it and have to start looking directly at it to find Solutions and I would agree with you none of them are going to be precise and none of them are going to be pristine in their ideation or their execution it's going to be again this is uh the quote the a patriot you're going to see this war in your backyard you know the town centers it's going to be closed Mr Calderon what would you like to leave people with now that we're all um completely depressed and worried about our [Laughter] future uh oh God I don't know um well first off thank you for for of course for for inviting me on and and allowing me to speak on some of these issues I of course maybe this will help you sorry sorry sorry to interrupt you maybe this will help you with uh the closing where do you where would you point people to educate themselves more oh great uh we run a small media we run a small Media company in our sister and we have a a news uh related uh aspect to it called demolir uh demo.com or you can find them on Instagram demolir it's a small news agency we basically report in English for the English for the english- speaking Market uh it's run by a Former Intelligence analyst I participated in it as well and a lot of my colleagues as well contribute information and direct uh on the ground reporting of that nature we have no biases we are not everything has to be verified and all the news we put there is things that are very shocking and scary for us and we think the US should pay attention to demo there um we also run these uh month uh every three months we basically sit down and talk about the most uh major news events coming out of Mexico in English world the English Market uh you can find that on uh the manifesto Radio podcast Channel on YouTube and if people really want to get educated with some of these things I mean just ask your members of law enforcement uh talk to the people that actually work in the border patrol not their [ __ ] leadership by the way talk to people that work on that [ __ ] border uh which I I can I can I can I can say this I've trained bortac I've trained members of the Border Patrol and I've also train migrants on the southern side of it to deal with some of the dangers they're going to be facing as far as some of my mexic Mexican compatriots so I have no sides in this I've done my work on both sides I I have no sin I don't owe anything to anybody but I can tell you from both sides is that it's [ __ ] horrible so if people want to know what's going on ask the people that are there don't look at the news don't look at people reporting from afar don't look at some of these woke activists that are speaking nonsense about you know I don't know G gender and [ __ ] identity politic nonsense I'm an immigrant I recognize none of their [ __ ] I'm from Mexico I work there I live there I still have interest I still have family in Mexico and I I I have a vested interest in both of these places being better and getting to a better place and I know there's no Crossing into the future as a strong Nation for the United States without the partnership of of of Mexico and a safe and prosperous Mexico is good for everybody on this continent ENT we're going to need each other before the end of whatever ending is coming in front of us and I people can see some of that Global uh how how us is basically retracting globally me the United States is going to need Mexico for what's next I hope you enjoyed today's episode to learn more about this issue you can check out edor at EDS manifesto. and if you or someone you know is struggling with a fentanyl addiction there are things that you can do you can call the substance abuse in Mental Health Services Administration hotline at 1 8006624357 that is 1 18006624357 thank you again to listening to change agents in Ironclad original presented by Montana Knife Company we'll see you again next week with an all new episode

Channel: IRONCLAD

Views: 322,231

Keywords: Ed Calderon, Mexican Cartel, cartel, drugs, sinaloa cartel, narco wars, narcos, mexico, Mike Glover, special forces, andy stumpf, change agents with andy stumpf, mass shooting, navy seal, true crime, survival, change agents, this is ironclad, ironclad, True Crime, Epstein Associates, Epstein Court Case Update, cia, little black book, jeffrey epstein, social issues, leave the world behind, cartels, ed calderon cartels, southern border

Id: pFwU8KcUm5o

Length: 65min 59sec (3959 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 17 2024