28/10/2010 Chihuahua. International security companies, which act as paramilitary groups, reportedly focused a possible area of business on the northern border after the Afghan government decreed its departure from that country by the end of this year.
The global intelligence company Stratfor, in one of its weekly reports, assures that US private security companies operating in Afghanistan intend to move to Mexico and for this there is a very important media pressure in which the violence that occurs here is highlighted.
Stratfor, dedicated to the analysis of political, economic, military and security information around the world, maintains that in recent weeks some homicides of U.S. citizens in Mexican territory have taken an unusual diffusion in the media of that country.
He cites, for example, the alleged murder of American David Hartley, who disappeared on September 30 while sailing with his wife on Lake Falcon, about 200 kilometers south of San Antonio, Texas, on the border between the two countries.
The murder -not yet confirmed- of Hartley was taken up with much diffusion by a sector of the American press, even, in an unprecedented event, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made strong statements on the subject.
"The U.S. government is supporting border authorities in finding the body and the perpetrator of the crime. We are sickened by the fact, just as we are sick by the violence in Mexico directed against innocent Mexicans and between rival cartels," he added.
That qualification of "sickening" to the situation that the country is experiencing generated severe criticism of Clinton, but still maintained his saying.
Stratfor's findings stem in part from the decree issued on August 23 by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which sets a four-month deadline for the 52 security companies operating in that country to dissolve. Of these, 26 are Americans.
A U.S. Congressional report on the war in Iraq found that from 2003 to 2007 the government of the neighboring country spent about $85 billion to hire about 105,000 paramilitaries from those companies.
Its main functions were to protect strategic points such as government offices, military installations, embassies, as well as escorting officials, training local security forces, hostage rescue, and capture of enemy targets, among others.
However, his departure from Afghanistan is imminent, and with it comes the lack of government subsidy.
In Latin America, the operation of the so-called private military companies has existed for a few years in Colombia, where, under pressure from the Washington government, they have an active participation in the fight against drug trafficking, particularly in the destruction of coca plantations.
Main functions of "private military companies":
They provide services and materials such as logistics, armaments, telecommunications, and protection of buildings or people in the context of security and defense, their main customers are governments and armed forces.
Source: diario.com.mx
