As we now know there was a cover-up of the Los Zetas crossing the border and taking over ranches. The proof has been shown. So who would cover this up and how high does it go?
There are three tracks that I can think of as to how and why the order came down.
The National Security Track
The order was sent down to cover this up because it would jeopardize other investigations.
I find this track highly improbable.
The Incompetence Track
The order came down to cover up the incompetence of our border security plan (or lack thereof). This order would come from President Obama or Janet Napolitano and be handed down to the incident area.
This is a possible track as it would cause the public to start demanding the heads of people in the national security chain of command. It is also possible that this is at the state or local level to cover incompetence.
The Purely Political Track
The order was sent down to protect the stances of those who do not want to secure the border for political purposes or it was sent down to protect those who are up for election.
I find this the most likely of all the tracks. Someone is protecting their power and/or their electability, either so that they can continue to demand something like an amnesty for illegal aliens without securing the border properly or because they are up for election and their stance is opposed to closing the border.
How high this goes and who is responsible for ordering the cover-up is not currently known.
Here is one other thing to keep in mind as to why the Los Zetas story was shut down so rapidly.
There are several events that were occurring as the Los Zetas story broke. The most obvious one - that I didn't consider until later - was the fact that a federal judge in Arizona was at the time reviewing an immigration enforcement law. SB1070 was slated to take effect on July 29, 2010 - just 5 days after the Los Zetas story broke.
Nobody can say for sure, but those who wanted injunctions to be placed on the law before it went into effect would certainly have an interest in keeping things like cross border infiltration and seizures of land out of the news. News like that would cause public outrage - even more than there has been with the since handed-down injunction against SB1070. Seeing as though the Department of Justice filed the suit, this would point to a federal government cover-up.
As I have noted before in another article there are six other potential reasons.
1. This would make the Obama Administration look horrible. Their lack of security along the border is well known. A breach of national security this large would create a firestorm of anger at the administration. Their aims to pass an amnesty for illegal aliens would be shot to pieces and all of their arguments against building true security in the form of a fence would go down with it. This would have ramifications in the upcoming November elections for congress.
2. There is currently a gubernatorial race going on in Texas. The current sitting governor, Rick Perry, is looked at as being weak on immigration. He stood up for in-state tuition for illegal aliens and has done little to crack down - or push for a crackdown - on illegal immigration in his state. This would destroy his "tough guy" and "tough on crime image".
3. Local congressional races in Texas. As everyone knows all of the members of The House are up for election. Some of those are open borders supporters. This breach of security would show that their continued fight against closing down the border in any way is flawed logic (as if it took this story to actually show that - the same story could happen again tomorrow).
4. Local sheriffs and elected officials could be made to look bad. There could have been mistakes made during operations that they don't want revealed. Or they could have not been properly prepared for them and this intrusion showed their incompetence.
5. Businesses. It's no secret that some agriculture and other businesses use low-skilled illegal alien labor to operate. They do this to avoid taxes so that they can make a hefty profit and avoid all of the hassles of insurance and the like. Strong business interests and wealthy individuals with influence could bring their power to bear down and cover things up to keep their cheap labor flowing.
6. General corruption. Some people in our government are beholden to or on the take from the cartels, Los Zetas or the Mexican government itself. After all, we seem to hear stories daily of someone or another being busted for being on the take. Imagine how many actually are on the take and just haven't been discovered.
Will this story once again be ignored, even with evidence? Will those who retracted it actually have the fortitude to now report on it and demand that it be looked into further? Will those like Jose E. Baeza, the Laredo Police Department spokesman be forced to account for his lying to the people that he is supposed to protect? Will any officials be found culpable in the cover-up? Only time will tell.
