Total Chaos! The CIA Mexican Cartel PSYOP is Fully Unfolding in Mexico | Redacted News

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Redacted News

Episode: Total Chaos! The CIA Mexican Cartel PSYOP is Fully Unfolding in Mexico
Date: February 25, 2026
Hosts: Natali Morris & Clayton Morris
Guests: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, journalist Katrina Schulz

---

Overview

In this episode, Natali and Clayton Morris investigate the recent civil unrest in Mexico, focusing on the violent backlash following the reported capture and death of cartel leader El Mencho. They examine the flow of US weapons to Mexican cartels, US intelligence involvement, historical context of US-Mexico relations, and the broader implications for both countries. With in-depth interviews and real-world analysis, the episode scrutinizes US complicity in cartel empowerment, government transparency, and the repercussions of kingpin-focused law enforcement strategies.

---

Key Discussion Points

1. Cartel Violence and US Complicity

• Escalating Unrest:
  • Recent cartel violence (roadblocks, attacks on businesses, airports) paralyzed multiple Mexican cities.
  • Mexican Defense Secretary admitted that 78% of weapons seized from cartels are traced to US manufacturers.
• US Hypocrisy:
  • US designates cartels as “foreign terrorist groups,” yet US weapons end up arming them—mirroring past Middle East policy (ISIS, Al Nusra, Hamas).
  • Washington cutting budgets that trace illegal gun trafficking, effectively reducing oversight.

“At the very moment that we’re talking about cartel power, we’re also reducing funding for the investigations to track those weapons…We’re not supposed to know this.”
—Natali Morris (14:42)

2. Historical Context: Destabilizing Latin America

• Longstanding US Agenda:
  • US aim for instability in Mexico stretches back centuries (reference to Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 concerns).
  • Modern parallels drawn to US regional “practice grounds” like the Middle East.
• Pressure on Cuba & Venezuela:
  • Efforts to starve Cuba by blocking oil from Venezuela; Mexico defies US request, sending humanitarian aid.
  • US involvement in cartel takedowns (e.g., El Mencho) may coincide with foreign policy objectives.

“The short answer of why disrupt Mexico right now is because they’re really doing a great job of…standing up to US hegemony.”
—Clayton Morris (11:35)

3. PsyOps and Local Awareness

• Mexican Citizens' Skepticism:
  • Viral videos allege CIA backing of the Nuevo Generations Cartel, suggesting deliberate destabilization by foreign interests.
  • Local views: “The CIA is behind the Nuevo Generations cartel...Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.” (16:38)

4. US Domestic Impact & Border States

• California as Cartel Hub:
  • Interview with Sheriff Chad Bianco (26:51–38:19):
    • California’s lenient policies facilitate cartel operations; highways used as primary distribution routes.
    • Cartels now prioritize human trafficking due to higher profitability, but easily switch back to drugs when routes change.
    • Cartel leadership and key operatives reside in Southern California, reflecting cross-border integration.
    • Cartels are as well, if not better, armed than some local law enforcement agencies.

“There is nothing more organized than the cartel...If they were legitimate, they would probably be one of the biggest businesses in the world.”
—Sheriff Chad Bianco (30:04)

“They have rocket launchers and all of the things that you see on TV. They are probably more heavily armed than local law enforcement.”
—Sheriff Chad Bianco (37:20)

• Transnational Operations & Law Enforcement Struggles:
  • Cartel logistics include legal businesses for money laundering, mass human smuggling, and diversified portfolios (produce, trucking, mining).
  • Law enforcement overwhelmed by volume and sophistication; cartel foot soldiers are disposable, incentivized by threat or poverty.

5. Inside Mexico: Structure and Fragmentation of Cartels

• Interview with Journalist Katrina Schulz (42:23–58:47):
  • El Mencho’s death sparked a "declaration of war" by the CJNG against the Mexican government; violence outbreaks nationwide.
  • Leadership succession was pre-planned: El Mencho’s American stepson (“El Cerro Tres,” born in Orange County, CA) immediately installed, showing cartel’s organizational depth.
  • Potential for violent cartel infighting remains high but hasn't erupted yet.
  • Cartels operate as parallel governments, embedded in politics and local security, operating with military-grade weaponry from the US, Israel, Iran, and China.

“[CJNG’s] new leader...is actually an American citizen...That’s a first.”
—Katrina Schulz (43:40)

• US & Foreign Involvement:
  • Confirmed heavy US intelligence involvement in El Mencho’s takedown; political need to maintain the illusion of Mexican sovereignty.
  • Cartels using Israeli Pegasus spyware (with implied IDF approval); drones sourced from China and Iran.

“There has not been any retaliation against Americans...Tourists have not been touched or harmed in any way other than just being locked down in their hotels.”
—Katrina Schulz (46:02)

• Kingpin Strategy Critique:
  • Removal of leaders triggers further violence, but rarely weakens cartel power long-term (“like a hydra”).
  • Every removal just causes more violence and innocent suffering.

“I really do hate the kingpin strategy...You chop off the head and two deadlier, scarier ones grow back.”
—Katrina Schulz (53:58)

• The Flow of Arms and Technology:
  • 80% of guns at Mexican crime scenes traced to the US.
  • Technology and weaponry flows from multiple geopolitical players, suggesting deeper intelligence and financial pipelines are what sustain cartel power.

6. Broader Geopolitical Context

• China’s Role:
  • Chinese business and political relationships in Latin America perceived as threatening US influence; referenced with ongoing “new Monroe Doctrine.”
  • Fentanyl precursor chemicals initially from China, later shifted to India & Pakistan following crackdowns, with Chinese chemists directly teaching Mexican cartel chemists.

“Chinese chemists came to Mexico to teach the cartels how to make fentanyl. It was a watch and learn process.”
—Katrina Schulz (56:07)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On U.S. Complicity & Irony:

  “[We] pay weapons makers to arm the cartels in Mexico? Good for you. You’re working for weapons makers.”
  —Clayton Morris (10:08)

• On Mexico-U.S. Relations:

  “No one gives a shit about Latin America, but we’re still going to topple them.”
  —Natali Morris (13:20)

• Sheriff’s Perspective:

  “It is enabling criminal behavior that we are constantly fighting with…The cartels are just as well-armed as we are and sometimes more.”
  —Chad Bianco (27:26; 37:20)

• On the Kingpin Approach:

  “Kingpin strategy…never effective, just causes more violence…You chop off the head and two deadlier, scarier ones grow back.”
  —Katrina Schulz (53:58)

• On U.S. Foreign Policy Doctrine:

  “The Trump corollary is that the United States will take military action based on our prerogatives…very broad.”
  —Clayton Morris (20:42)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Episode Theme Introduction: 02:00
• Weapons, U.S. Complicity, and Cartel Power: 06:34–18:19
• Historical Context & US Motives in Latin America: 11:35–20:34
• CIA, Cartel PsyOps & Local Perspectives in Mexico: 14:42–17:38
• Interview: Sheriff Chad Bianco on California & Cartel Operations: 26:51–38:19
• Interview: Katrina Schulz on Mexico’s Cartel War and US Involvement: 42:23–58:47

---

Final Thoughts & Takeaways

• The recent escalation of cartel violence in Mexico is intimately tied to U.S. policy, both historically and in the present day, especially through the military-industrial complex and intelligence agencies.
• Efforts to combat cartels by targeting leaders have proven ineffective and often result in more violence and suffering.
• Cartels have evolved into multinational, diversified criminal enterprises with access to military-grade weaponry and advanced technology from several global powers.
• The U.S. government’s contradictory roles—arming, investigating, and occasionally targeting cartels—point to a deeper, uncomfortable complicity in the ongoing violence and instability in the region.
• With the ATF’s defunding and ongoing lack of transparency, there is little incentive or ability to meaningfully trace and stop the flow of weapons fueling the cycle of violence.

---

Where to Learn More:

• Sheriff Chad Bianco: Ongoing law enforcement perspective from California’s border counties.
• Katrina Schulz: Borderland Dispatch podcast; Substack "Send News" for on-the-ground cartel coverage.

---

[End of Content Summary]

Transcript

[A]

I didn't even realize I was wasting $415 a month until I downloaded Rocket Money. I thought I had my finances under control until the app laid out all my spending and categorized it for me. Takeout shopping and unused subscriptions were quietly draining my account, and as a result, my savings took a backseat. But Rocket Money doesn't just tell you what you're wasting money on. It takes action to save you money. First, the app looks at your income and monthly expenses and calculates how much you can safely spend each day to stay under budget. Rocket Money also finds and cancels unwanted subscriptions for you and even negotiates better rates on your bills so you have more money in your pocket. On average, Rocket Money members can save up to $740 a year when using all the app's premium features. Users love the app with over 186,000 five star ratings. It's time to simplify your finances and take control of your Money. Go to RocketMoney.com Cancel to get started. That's RocketMoney.com Cancel RocketMoney.com Cancel we're lost.

[B]

I'm going to pull over and ask that man for directions.

[C]

Hi there.

[B]

We're looking to get to the campground.

[D]

Well, you're going to take a left at the old oak tree end of this here road. No, I'm just kidding.

[A]

Let me get my phone out.

[C]

How are you getting a signal out here?

[D]

T Mobile and US Cellular decided to merge. So the network out here is huge. We're getting the same great signal as the city and saving a boatload with all the benefits. Oh, and a five year price guarantee.

[A]

Okay, here's those directions.

[C]

Actually, can you point us in the direction of a T Mobile store?

[A]

America's best network just got bigger. Switch to T Mobile today and get built in benefits the other guys leave out. Plus our five year price guarantee. And now T Mobile is available in US Cellular stores.

[D]

Best mobile network Based on analysis by Oogle of Speedtest Intelligence data 2H2025 bigger

[A]

network the combination of T Mobile's and

[D]

US Cellular's network footprints will enhance the T Mobile network's coverage price guarantee on talk text and data exclusions like taxes

[A]

and fees apply se t mobile.com for details.

[C]

Welcome to Redacted. We're so glad you're here. I'm Natalie Morris. That's Clayton. We got a lot to talk about today. We're going to talk about the civil unrest in Mexico because Mexico may be unreopening. But who armed the cartel in the first place, what is US Complicity in this civil unrest? Turns out it. It's extensive. You could have guessed that, I'm sure, but we're still going to bring our homework and show it to you.

[A]

Well, they don't want to admit it, of course, that the, you know, where are they getting their weapons? How is the CIA intimately involved in this? How exactly are the cartel operate? Why are they. And this is not just a Mexico story. I mean, this is a massive United States story. Because many of these cartels operate freely within the United States.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Which could be activated at a moment's notice.

[C]

Now this is something we were talking about in the wake of the Ukraine war. We were saying a lot of these weapons that are being sent from the United States are ending up in the cartel's hands. We need, like, one of those I told you so signs. Yeah, like in boxing where they announce the rounds. We're just gonna walk past I told

[A]

you so, like those dipshit Democrats last year at the state of the union address that held up the little sign. You know, have a little I told you so sign.

[C]

Right. I think in boxing they do it in bikinis. Are you willing to do that?

[A]

I would watch that.

[C]

No, to do it.

[A]

Oh, no, no, no. I will not wear a bikini.

[C]

I'm offering you up in a bikini.

[A]

No.

[C]

Okay, so, yes, we told you so. Military grade US Weapons in the hands of the cartel. So.

[A]

Yeah, but if we. If we want to have a ring girl just like, walk behind us with an I told you so on a regular basis, I'm totally keen on.

[C]

We should do that.

[A]

So.

[C]

Okay. Neither of us are volunteering, though. Philip.

[A]

Get up then. On the payroll. Yeah, right now I'm in a. I'm in a bikini right now. So just hand me the card. It's in a Borat bikini. All right. Yeah, we're gonna get to all of that. Today on the show, we're gonna do a deep dive with some excellent guests live from Mexico. By the way, we're gonna get to all of that, but first, first, we

[C]

wanna tell you about our show sponsor at Shopify. Now, we are happily customers of Shopify as well as journalists that they support. If you go to the redacted store, you will find that it does run on Shopify. Now, how do you know is you get that purple shop pay button. Anytime you're on the web, you see the shop pay button. You know that that store also runs on Shopify and so many great businesses do because Shopify makes it so easy to Launch your ideas to the world no matter what they are. You can just have an idea. Go to shopify.com redacted and get started. They will offer you beautiful templates for your store. They offer you back end shipping. All of that stuff they can take care of so that you can just work on your own business. If you go to shopify.com redacted, you can sign up for a one month trial period today. I know that starting something new is terrifying, but let Shopify help you make it seamless and beautiful. Once again. Shopify.com redacted.

[A]

You know, microplastics are infiltrating every part of our lives. Scientists estimate we now consume a credit card's worth of plastic every single week through our food, water and the air that we breathe. One study found plastic particles in 100% of human lung samples. Nobody is safe from exposure. And you know, right now we know that plastics sit in the body. They cross the gut lining. They leach into your blood and disrupt everything. And they've been shown to alter our gut bacteria, which suppresses our immune response and can actually damage our DNA. Even if you eat clean and avoid packaged foods, you're still being exposed. You can't opt out of this, but your gut can actually help you fight back. And that's why we want to tell you about our friends, Kimchi Won from Bright Core. Nutrition is a potential ally in this toxic world. It's packed with over 900 probiotic strains unique to kimchi and proven to break down bpa. In fact, right before the show, I just took my supplements. I just took two of these capsules right before the show along with my protein smoothie today. And it helps you detox from inside out. That's what Kimchi Won does. It doesn't just support digestion. It helps protect your cells, your brain, your hormones, and your future. Your body was never designed to handle plastic, but your gut was designed to protect you. And you have to give it the right tools. And that's why kimchi is so powerful right now. You can get 25% off with our code. Redacted. Just go to mybrightcore.com redacted get 25% off. And for an even better deal, if you want 50% off, just call my friends at Bright Core. Get up to 50% off and free shipping. That number is 8884-0463-1288-8404-6312.

[C]

Well, business and life in Mexico is reopening slowly after cartel violence forced lockdowns across multiple Regions. Now in our house, half of our family was loc of the blizzard and the other half for cartel. I think if I had to choose, I take the snow day over a cartel day. They had school closures, roads blocked, businesses paralyzed. This was no blip, you guys. Criminal organizations now have the operational capacity to shut down cities and many of their weapons in their arsenal, in fact, most of it can be traced to the United States. That is not something that is on accident. We have to trace these pipelines. But now Washington is saying we're not actually going to investigate. In fact, we're going to cut budgets to who would investigate where the weapons are from. Now, the US has been punishing Mexico with terrorists for, quote, not doing enough about cartel violence when the cartel's arsenal comes from the United States. The United States has recently designated cartels as foreign terrorist groups, but then turns around and arms them. Who does that sound like? We designate them as terrorists and then arm them. Any guesses?

[A]

Al Qaeda or no, I guess that's the inverse.

[C]

Well, isis.

[A]

Isis, Yes.

[C]

I was thinking isis. Al Nusra, Yeah. So this is Hamas. Familiar? Yes, exactly.

[A]

We love arming Hamas, by the way.

[C]

Yeah. So if, you know, you think that this is a brand new story, you haven't been here that long. That's okay. Welcome. We're going to tell you a little story about how we designate foreign terrorist groups and then support them in Syria, for instance. Now, we showed you this clip in June of 2023. This was the news in Mexico warning that Javelin missiles that the US Sent to Ukraine were showing up in the hands of Mexican gangs. Now, there's no English translation. It's only 25 seconds, but I just want to show it to you because we've been telling you this. Go ahead. Now, she's saying these are powerful and often found on the black market. Now, in the context of this weekend's disruption, that hardly seems like an accident. The cartel was armed to blow up cars. They blew up a Costco, a Sam's Club. They were able to shoot up airports unchallenged. Earlier this month, Mexico's Secretary of Defense admitted that 78% of weapons seized from the cartels does come from the United States, including rifles and rocket launchers, manufactured, excluded exclusively by US manufacturers for the US Military. Watch.

[A]

IOS Unidos.

[C]

Aren't you so glad you went to work today so that you could pay your taxes? So that we could pay weapons makers to arm the cartels in Mexico? Good for you. You're working for.

[A]

We make the best weapons Right. And by the way, all of these people, you know, like Lindsey Graham and others who tell us, you know, that this is why we should send weapons to Israel and Ukraine and all of

[C]

this, they're made in the United States. It's so good. It's so good for us. And then they end up in your backyard, aimed at us. Okay. I was trying to explain to my mother today. She was like, why would our tax dollars go to the cartel? And I said, well, the same way our tax dollars go to Syria to help overthrow the government there. This is why the Obama administration came up with the idea of moderates. It. They were. They were isis, but Obama's like, well, they're ISIS light. They're moderates. Right? So, yes, we do this well.

[A]

And also, if you track.

[D]

If you track the money.

[A]

So. So we. We pay the manufacturers to make these, and we pay to send them to Ukraine, and then somebody takes them from

[D]

Ukraine, makes money off of them, selling

[A]

them to the cartels. Like, what an odd thing that we're doing is we're essentially subsidizing weapons arm or arms dealers. Well, and the CIA. I mean, the CIA is making money off of the sale of these weapons on the secondhand market. I mean, drugs and guns are one of the leading funding sources for the CIA for decades.

[C]

Right. Now, we're gonna paint in broad strokes for a few minutes, and then we're gonna ask our guests who have actually observed this in action. So, first of all, why would the US Want instability in Mexico? Well, the short answer is we always have. And in fact, in 1786, Thomas Jefferson worried that Spain was too weak to keep hold of Mexico, and he worried that the British or the French would take it over, and we did not want them as our neighbors. So his tactic was to help the Spanish to thwart the British, and then eventually the United States could take over Mexico piece by piece. Now, the United States has not expressed express interest in owning Mexico for quite some time, but as many foreign. Foreign experts, foreign policy experts have said, it's kind of our training ground for US Hegemony. And then we practice there, and then we get really good at doing it overseas, specifically in the Middle East. And that also makes sense. That's the long answer, the sort of historical answer, but the short answer of why disrupt Mexico right now is because they're really doing a great job of off. Donald Trump here, he was just a few weeks ago saying that he wants Cuba to collapse. And I'm going to connect the two of these in just a second.

[D]

Watch.

[A]

Well, we're going to see what happens with Cuba.

[D]

I don't know anybody interested in Cuba in this room. Not too many people.

[A]

This is not a Cuba room.

[D]

But that's all right.

[A]

There are plenty of them around, especially in Miami.

[D]

And Cuba will be failing pretty soon.

[A]

Cuba is really a nation that's very close to failing.

[D]

You know, they got their money from Venezuela, they got the oil from Venezuela. They're not getting that anymore.

[A]

We're talking about the polls earlier, okay?

[C]

Haha, so funny. No one gives a shit about Latin America, but we're still going to topple them. Now Cuba did, he's right, used to buy oil from Venezuela. And now that the US has captured the president of Venezuela, Maduro, and now decides who Cuba does business with, or I'm sorry, who Venezuela does business with, they cannot do business with Cuba because Cuba is aligned with China. They can send oil to Israel. That's brand new. Venezuela now has started to send oil to Israel, but not to Cuba. So the goal is to sort of starve them into collapsing. The US government told Mexico, look, we're trying to starve out Cuba. Don't you help them, don't feed them, don't, you know, leave anything out back, don't do it. But Mexico did it anyway. They have begun selling human sending, not selling humanitarian aid by the boatload. In fact, they're saying that they sent two Navy ships carrying more than 814 tons of humanitarian aid for civilians under orders from President Claudia Sheinbaum. That was just two weeks ago. So is it a coincidence then that now the US would help the cartels start a war? And in fact, Fox News and many other outlets have reported that the Mexican government took out this notorious cartel boss known as El Mencho with the help of U.S. intelligence. So that's U.S. intelligence, U.S. weapons, huh. Okay, are we noticing a pattern now? We will talk later about El Mencho and why his name carries so much weight in Mexico. The American media is saying he was the big boss, he was the head. He wasn't really. And I think most people in Mexico understand that. They saw him as sort of a mob boss and de facto local authority. And in fact, during the pandemic, he was known for distributing food to the poor, him and his fellow cartel members. Of course, these organizations don't just collapse because one operator is taken into custody. They are structured to survive. They are like a starfish. You cut off one, it just grows back. They're financed to endure pressure and they're armed well enough to shut down cities. Clearly now we are not supposed to know the extent to which we are arming the cartels. And that will only get worse because in fact, in the 2026 Justice Department budget, nearly half a billion dollars was cut from the agency that investigates illegal gun trafficking and traces the firearms that end up at the crime scene, including in Mexico. So that's funny, right? We don't want to investigate that anymore. Those departments cut and merged. It in fact, eliminated the ATF as a standalone agency. Cut positions and scaled back gun tracing operations. Scale back. We don't want to know this. We're not supposed to know this. Okay, so at the very moment that we're talking about cartel power, we're also reducing funding for the investigations to track those weapons. Just kind of funny right now. Interesting enough, here's a video that went viral over the last few days. Locals suspect this is a psy up. They know that they live at the threat of cartels. They also know that those cartels are trained and armed by the US Military. So this doesn't make it less dangerous. It does mean, however, that they know about us hegemonic forces. Watch.

[B]

I live in one of the areas where some of these fires went down

[D]

in Mexico today, and I'm telling you

[B]

right now, it's a psyop. The CIA is behind the Nuevo Generations cartel. And yeah, just don't, don't drink the Kool Aid.

[D]

They do this on purpose to Latin

[B]

American countries all the time to cause civil unrest and cause destabilization in the country, especially when the country is standing up against the US and gaining economic momentum.

[C]

All right, so what are we to take from this? This isn't something that we Americans can sit on our high horse and be like, oh, so sad. They're so violent down there. Savages, you know? No, we have a hand in it. Our tax dollars support it. We are savages if we don't see it. So coming up, we're going to talk to some experts who have seen it firsthand after the break.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

What say you?

[A]

Well, I'm just thinking about, like, you know, the way that China uses economic warfare, warfare in these ways. Right. They'll dump enormous amounts of silver on the market. Right. Just as we're trying to position ourselves to do different things. And so then suddenly that market falls out from underneath it. So how do we operate? We love to go in there and shoot up gang members and create civil unrest and instability by, you know, by having this involvement with, with these cartel violence and taking that over.

[C]

So you Know, I'm not sure exactly what the China piece, but I'm saying

[A]

different countries have different methods. We love to use guns and we love to arm terrorists and violent criminals.

[C]

Well, yes, but I think we've made the connection many times that Chinese business relationships with, say, Venezuela and Cuba are putting a target on their back. And the United States is saying, absolutely not. We will declare that a military threat, even things we don't like. What did we. What? We found that in the military doctrine recently. It was things that make us uncomfortable or something like that. Philip, do you remember the phrasing that the military doctrine, the new Monroe Doctrine is what it's called. I'm going to find it.

[A]

Right. I mean, Trump. Right. My point is that when China makes moves into Latin America, into our hemisphere, and they've made these partnerships with China, with, with Mexico, with Venezuela, with other, other Latin American countries, they, they get back at us by, you know, dumping silver onto the market and other methods. What do we do? We go in there and create chaos and make it incredibly difficult for them to get the oil out of there and everything else. We make the enemies that we want so we can stay in a perpetual war. If we run out of enemies, then we can't keep up with our trillion dollar military budget. So we need to create the enemies that we want. They need to be scary and they need to be well armed.

[D]

And we got it covered.

[A]

We've been doing it for decades. Like in Venezuela. Venezuela, of course, one of the leading partners for China on their oil exports.

[D]

Right.

[A]

How do we stick it to China? We go in and kidnap their president and destabilize the entire area and then steal their oil. We killed hundreds of people. That's exactly how we do it.

[C]

Well, I don't know that I'm prepared to say one is better than the other or, you know, I'm not an expert on Chinese hegemony, global hegemony. I do think again that, you know, doing business with China is, is putting a target on these, on these countries. Back where was the Trump coroll? Because there was a word, the Donroe Doctrine, the new Monroe Doctrine. The Trump corollary was that I want to find it.

[A]

Yeah. It was very broad, it was vague and it was. Instead of just being in our hemisphere, it was if we feel like we're uncomfortable that you're in.

[C]

It was something like that. Yeah. And I want to find it in my notes, but I don't.

[A]

It's not like the Barbary pirates, but. All right. You find that we've got more news to get to here. Unless you had something else.

[C]

I do have it here.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

The Trump corollary is that the United States will take military action based on our prerogatives. That was the word that the, the department will restore American military dominance in the Western hemisphere and we will use it militarily to protect our homeland and this hemisphere. We will deny adversaries ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, which we're now seeing is economic. And the Trump corollary, you know, a common sense and potent restoration of American power and prerogatives. So the word prerogatives is quite broad. It's. We don't like this. We take military action based on our prerogatives. So, yeah, this is, this feels very related. So, you know, the United States is exerting pressure on these various places, Venezuela and Cuba and Mexico is saying, well, we're going to hold the line a little bit. These are our, our buds. We're going to support Cuba and now we have to destabilize Mexico further. So anyhow, coming up, we're going to talk to someone who knows how the cartel operates inside the United States as well, unchecked in many ways. We're also going to talk about how the cartels function with the help of the United States CIA in just a second.

[A]

But first, but first one, tell you about our friends over at Stopbox. Because, you know, when you're worried about the safety of your family, time matters, speed matters. Someone breaks into your house, you don't have time to futz around with some like bio sensor, you know, eye scanning, whatever you know, or run across the room and go to some other thing that's going to take you 10 minutes to open. Right? You want something reliable. That's where Stopbox it comes in. It is a game changer and it is trusted by over 400,000 gun owners. It's completely mechanical, no keys, no batteries. And the five button setup is built for muscle memory so you can get quick, quick access while keeping others out. It's super easy to use. And also it's great for travel too. Like, it's TSA compliant, so you can completely check your safe, check your gun safely and legally. And it's made right here inside the United States. It's, I'm genuinely excited about this because safes, you know, safe, safe and effective is what you need to be safe and fast. It matters. In our house, you don't want just something sitting out there, but you also don't want a solution that Slows you down when seconds count to grab your firearm and protect your family. So for a limited time, our listeners get 10% off at StopBox when you use the code redacted10. That's right. Redacted10. At checkout, head over to stopboxusa.com and use that code redacted10 for 10% off your entire order. And, like, if you what I love about it too, you can take it right to the gun range. So, you know, it depends on the state you're living in. What are the car laws? You know, when you're driving, make sure that you have it stowed properly. It's perfect for that as well. Just keep it in your car and you're protected, and you can take it to the gun range and back. It's perfect for that. So go to stopboxusa.com redacted 10 for 10% off. And after you purchase, they're going to ask where you heard about us. Please tell them you. You know, our friend. Your friends at Redacted sent you. So thanks to Stop Box.

[C]

All right, well, our next guest says that the United States has effectively become a hub for cartel operations, especially in California. And he would know. Coming up soon. I don't think he's in yet, is he? We're going to talk to Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in just a moment. He's not quite logged in yet, but I will tell you about what. Go ahead.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Do you want to say something else?

[A]

No, I'm just trying to grab some sponsors here.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

I'm sorry. What do you call them?

[C]

While we're waiting, we can. We can take some super chats. Absolutely. The chat room thinks I'm annoyed with you for saying that thing about China. I'm not. I'm just.

[A]

She just didn't see, and I had to explain it more. More deeply so she understood, that's all.

[C]

Well, I'm mad at you for saying it that way. That's very patronizing to you.

[A]

People are like, deep breaths, deep breaths.

[C]

I wasn't mad at you, and. And now I am, so good job.

[A]

I want to introduce you to the word de escalate. De escalate. I'm from Philadelphia. I don't do that. I take it the opposite direction. Oh, you want to. You want to go.

[C]

You want to go another round?

[A]

You want to go another round?

[C]

All right, let's get into it. Don't fight in front. Natalie's annoyed in general. That's true.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, that's my default state.

[A]

It's like resting pissy face. Resting resty.

[C]

Absolutely. That's true. Yeah.

[A]

We told our son that story one time because we were explaining about somebody and we're like, you know, yeah, she's got resting bitch face. And my son just like lost it laughing because he'd never heard that phrase before. Yeah, it's like now he sees it all the time. Let's see if I can get. I don't see any super chats here. Let's see. Here we go. Hi there. Just wanted to say how much I appreciate your channel. You always report with honesty and clarity and it really stands out. Thanks for the work that you put in and for keeping everyone informed. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. America 1776 USA. Really appreciate that.

[C]

All right, okay, so we're going to get to our guest now, if you don't mind. So here we go.

[A]

I think I just heard him.

[C]

Yeah, I don't know if they.

[A]

He was telling someone to text a woman, but I don't think he was meant to text you.

[C]

I don't think so.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I don't text this person personally, but let's do it. Okay. Our next guest says the United States has effectively become a hub for, for cartel operations, particularly in California. And he would know. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco oversees one of the largest sheriff's departments in the country. In a region directly impacted by cross border trafficking and cartel violence. He warns that California under democratic leadership has become a fertile ground for cartel activity. And he has seen it close up. He says that the cartels control everything about the, the boat, the border, what's coming in, what's being sold, who's going to deliver what. And it happens with free range. So Sheriff Bianco joins us now. Thank you so much for joining us.

[D]

Absolutely. Thank you. And I apologize for being late.

[C]

Oh, you're forgiven. No problem. You get. You get one. Just kidding. Okay, no problem, sir. We appreciate you time your time and you're giving it, by the way.

[A]

She's not kidding. By the way. I'm married to her. She's not kidding. Don't.

[C]

Don't use up your warnings.

[A]

Sheriff, good to see you. Welcome to the show. So thanks so much for being here.

[C]

Okay, so what do you mean about California functioning as a fertile ground for the cartel? And then maybe after you explain what you've seen and the gravity of this news, you can respond to what's happening in Mexico.

[D]

Absolutely. So for the last 12, 15 years, California has basically, our California government has an absolute love affair with criminals. They have done everything they could to pass laws, rescind laws that basically enable criminal behavior. They've made drugs basically legal in California. And especially with what happened over the last four years with the Biden administration, we had a massive influx and control of. Of the cartels into California because California is the. Basically the. The hub of where everything gets shipped east. So because of the freeway systems coming from into our border, everything gets shipped, either the 10 or the 15 or the 5 to the rest of the United States. And when you have a government that almost makes it impossible. I mean, we have our tools still, but they make it impossible for us to enforce these laws to. To find them. They're doing everything they can to eliminate the technology that we use to infiltrate these organizations. It really is enabling criminal behavior that we are constantly fighting with. And what we have found, because it is this. This hub especially. And I want to. I want to point out how powerful the cartels are over the Biden administration. The cartels actually stopped the drug trade or gave up on the drug trade. They gave it over to local gangs because they were making more money in human smuggling. So drugs weren't lucrative enough for them anymore. They went with human trafficking, whether it was trafficking, sex trafficking, labor, or trafficking people that are going to harm us or have intentions to harm us into the country without being detected. And now with a secure border, they're back to their. Their old ways, where it's going back to drugs. And it's just something we have to deal with. And what we're seeing in Mexico, this is directly related to us because the family members of El Mencho all live in Southern California. So the. Now the new leader of that cartel is actually in my neighboring county. His daughter lives in my hard.

[A]

What we're dealing with, we just did a deep dive interview with Peter Schweitzer, author of the new book about the invisible coup in the United States. And one of the things he talked about is the reconquista, of course, which is the, you know, the intentional invasion of the United States by implanting people here, the, you know, birthright citizenship in the United States, the whole process. So I'm not surprised by that at all. So. But, Sheriff, it sounds like it's organized. It sounds like it's fully organized.

[D]

There is. There is nothing more organized than the cartel from their. From their structure, how they operate, their business, entities that they're involved in. It isn't just about drugs. They've got to have places. They've got to have the infrastructure to be able to get Those drugs and get that money transferred back and forth. They also have to have the businesses for the money laundering. They also have to have the, the people that they're paying off to to hide what they're doing. They have. It's a massive, massive, massive organization. One of the most lucrative organizations in the entire world. If they were legitimate, they would probably be one of the biggest businesses in the world.

[A]

Can I ask you as a follow up question to this organizational piece, which is you talked about this when Trump shut down the border, so the human trafficking piece of it shut down, thank goodness. I mean we've been reporting on this for years. So the horrible things that were happening to these children, that's wonderful that that stopped coming across the border. But how. And then they just flipped a switch back to drugs again. Like, well, that, that business just got shut off. So now we have to switch back to drugs. How easy is it for them and what size of drugs are we talking about coming across the border? How easy is it for them to get this stuff into the United States of America?

[D]

Yeah, you, we've seen the videos of young kids in military fatigues carrying backpacks and it's all single males, all dressed the same, carrying backpacks. Well, those backpacks contain drugs. And so you think about just a regular backpack, what you can put on your back, a kilo is 2 pounds. So you can have easily 40 pounds, 20 kilos on your back and bring that into the country and you can have 10 people doing it with you. And it's then, and we know they're bringing it in on boats, they're bringing it on planes. There's, there's all kinds of different ways they're getting it in, smuggling it into built in cars and fake compartments. All of those things that we have to, that we have to figure out to try and stop it. But they, there's the amount of volume that they're doing it in is we don't get it all. We can't get it all.

[A]

So it's overwhelming. Like what you're saying is they're doing so much that they're gonna lose a, they're gonna lose a bit that you guys catch, but they don't care because it's just overwhelming amounts.

[D]

Yes, that's the cost of doing business. The cost of doing business is they know people are going to get arrested. They know they're going to lose a couple million dollars in a vehicle stop or a couple of million dollars, several million dollars in drug product. And that's just the cost of doing Business, they write it off, they don't even care. And then the infrastructure is set up such a way with personnel that those people that we are arresting that actually have the money or actually have the drugs, they're actually being them and their families are being threatened with their lives and they know they'll be executed if they, if they don't do the right thing for the cartel. But those people are making next to nothing. They may be making nothing at all. And it's just, you have to do this or we're going to kill your family back wherever it was that you came from. And they have no idea who's controlling them. So when we maybe arrest them, they don't know where that came from. They don't know who has the money, they don't know who they're talking to. Sometimes it's a phone number, that's all they've ever had. And then we have to just keep trying to track that. So they're very good. Now we, we are, we are successful in, in finding a lot of it. But it's a, they're trying to get away with it and we're trying to catch them. And it's a, it's, it really is about volume and it's about numbers.

[C]

But you know, like every good investor, the cartel is diversified in their portfolio. So yes, the human trafficking is a little bit harder. The drug route may be a bit more dangerous, but they have investments and control certain pipelines in say avocados, raspberries, trucking, mining, shipping. And so it's not just as easy as well, don't do drugs kids, because I eat avocados. And so how much are we complicit in this and how much does our, you know, government know about this and allow to happen?

[D]

That's a good question. I can't say. Well, I can't say. I will tell you that our current administration is doing everything they can to track down money. I will say our last administration, for me personally, I was just completely disgusted with the last administration because it was an all hands off drugs anything. We knew that they were not only the Mexican cartel, but the Chinese cartel is heavily involved in the drug trade. And we knew that there were massive amounts of money laundering operations using marijuana that was directly related to the cc. And under Biden's direction, that's told to me personally from the people that were under that direction. Under Biden's direction, there could be no enforcement. And we had massive amounts of that happening in my county and there was just the federal government was doing nothing. That is completely opposite of what's happening right now. The current Attorney General's office and our, all of our federal government partners that we work with, hsi, dea, all of them, they are actively trying to find this money now, trying to shut down these businesses, halt that money that's being funneled back into Mexico to the cartels or to China, to that. Or even. There's Middle Eastern gangs, there's Russian gangs. It's a big industry that we're trying to fight.

[A]

How much pushback are you getting, Sheriff? Because we know in the last administration was an absolute disaster. I mean, a treasonous administration, really, under Alejandro Mayorkas, of course, and really helping to facilitate through these NGOs, all of this sex trafficking into the United States, the drugs. And they were complicit in it. Those NGOs just didn't disappear. And, you know, these people didn't just disappear. A lot of them, like, embedded themselves, even maybe further hidden inside the Trump administration. Are you getting pushback when you try to go after these NGOs or anybody else? Are you hearing from people that say, hey, Sheriff, maybe you want to back off this?

[D]

No, not, not even close. There is nothing but a very, very cooperative working relationship with local law enforcement and the federal government when it comes to human trafficking, drug trafficking, all of these things that are going on, money laundering, all of the things that we have around that trade. Sex trafficking is huge. And we are happy with the current administration and the, not only the, the cooperation with personnel, but with the money that they're giving us to, to. To. To able us to fund either technological ways that we can work ahead or overtime in things that we have in. In cases. So I am from. In my 32 years of law enforcement, it has never been this cooperative between local government and our federal government.

[A]

Can you briefly talk about the arms, the weapons that flow and just what type of people we're talking about here? And we talked about. You're like, dealing with a military, an organized military on the other side of the border. No.

[D]

Oh, no. You definitely. They're just as well armed as we are and sometimes more. They have like your local law enforcement. We have zero access to military weapons. The cartel has military weapons. So we have rifles, we have those types of things, but they have rocket launchers and they have all of the things that you. That you see on tv. They are probably more heavily armed than local law enforcement. So we absolutely need, and right now we do. We have a very, very good presence along our California border of our military making sure. That what's happening in Mexico right now with this war going on down there between the government and the cartels doesn't spill over into our country. Gosh.

[C]

Okay. Well, thank you for your time. I can see you're busy there from place to place. You are in fact running for governor for a Republican governor of California. And I imagine this is something that you have to be well informed about. It seems to be one of your main platforms. So thanks for sharing with us. We really appreciate it.

[A]

Thanks, Sheriff.

[D]

Absolutely. Thank you.

[C]

All right, pleasure.

[A]

Appreciate it.

[C]

Okay, coming up, our next guest is coming to us from Mexico. She has been reporting specifically on the inner workings of the cartels in Mexico and she will help us to understand exactly what this means. If you're not familiar with major drug kingpins. So we're going to do that in a second. But first we want to tell you about our friends over at Lear Capital because did you know that gold and silver has retained its value precipitously upwards, I guess you can't use precipitously in an upwards direction, can you? Precipitous is only a downward fall. Look that up for me, somebody and let me know. Did you know that gold and silver has been going up while the US Dollar does precipitously lose value? Well, why is that? Obviously because we have a war based economy. We were talking about war with Iran. We're talking about war now in Mexico. We launched war on Venezuela, now Cuba. That's expensive for the American people. So as we continue to spend on foreign wars, we continue to deflate the US dollar, which means that your purchasing power is going down, down, down. Now, we told you years ago to start to invest in metals. If you did that, you're pretty happy. But. But it's still not too late to do it. So I'm not going to say I told you so. I'm going to say I'm telling you so. Look into investing in tangible assets like metals that hold their value. And in fact, countries around the world are looking to stockpile their metals. Certain governments now, in fact, I think I read recently that the state of Florida is accepting gold and silver as legal tender. So that is another validating point. So let our friends at Lear Capital teach you this asset class. You can invest in an ira. You can invest in any cash you have set aside. They can teach you the various ways that you invest the various classes of bullion. If you just call them at 800-613-3557, they will get on the phone and answer any Old question. You've got. Or you can go to learedacted.com. you can receive up to $20,000 in free bonus medals with a qualified purchase. Again, ask any question. Get a free investor guide. Start studying this, and you'll be so glad that you did. So again, learn. Or give them a call. 800-613-3557.

[A]

I mean, gold right now. $5100 an ounce.

[C]

Good.

[A]

I saw someone in the chat room just said gold and silver. Yeah, gold and silver are the only true currency. Everything else is slavery. Yeah, like I'd never heard that before.

[C]

I mean, I'm trying to think. When they started work, when we started working with Lear, was gold, like 2000.

[A]

It was about $1700 an ounce.

[C]

Oh, my gracious.

[A]

1700. Now it's at $5148 as we speak. And silver is at $87 an ounce right now.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

All right.

[C]

You know, use it for your mortgage payment. Just walk down to the bank, be like, this holds value, not the US Dollar.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Anyhow.

[A]

And by the way, it's pretty easy. I mean, if you work with different sellers, I mean, you're able to. To transfer it to cash if you need it within, like, you know, a few short days.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

So it's not. Not difficult at all. Okay. All right. Well, most people think that cartels are just gangs with guns. That's not what they are at all. In fact, they're highly organized criminal business organizations with sophisticated intelligence driven networks, and they're deeply embedded in local politics and security forces in Mexico. Of course, the big question that no one in the United States really wants to confront is how deeply entwined is the CIA and intelligence community with these cartels? And how do they really function inside of Mexico and beyond? And how do they keep operating no matter who gets arrested? You just heard from Sheriff Bianco just a moment ago. Like, they'll have so many people get arrested coming in the United States or otherwise, or killed. It doesn't matter, because it just keeps growing. It's like a hydra. Today we're joined by Katrina Schulz. She's the host of Borderland Dispatch. She's a Canadian freelance journalist based in Mexico. She's one of the leading authorities reporting on cartel violence in Mexico. She's been doing an absolutely incredible job, and she joins us today from Mexico in the heart of it all. Great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us.

[B]

Thank you for having me.

[A]

Maybe you could just give us a 30,000 foot level update and picture as to where we are right now with this cartel violence and the government's response to it.

[B]

So essentially the day before yesterday, on Sunday, Sunday morning, when El Mencho was captured and killed, violence broke out across the country because cjng, Elementio's cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, became one of the most expansive and powerful cartels really ever in Mexico. And so there was this massive backlash from the cartel against the Mexican government. And I was saying that this was essentially like a declaration of war against the Mexican government for going after their kingpin. Then yesterday, I mean, across the country, things are still going on. There's still violent outbursts, there's still a lot of cartel activity, but it wasn't to the same extent as on Sunday. And same goes for today. Yesterday also, El Cerro Tres, El Mencho's stepson, was declared the new leader of the cjng, which was quite interesting because I was really curious as to whether or not this violence would turn from against the government to infighting within the cartel, to key figures, key high up figures in the cartel vying for that position of power, that leadership role. But it seems as though Mencho and cg, there's a very organized cartel and it seems as though there was a chain of command of who would be put into power if something like this were to happen. It's also important to, for context, that El Cerro Tres, this new leader of the CJ&G, is actually an American citizen. He was born in Orange County, California. So that's a first. But aside from that, it's unclear if more violence will still come. You know, I'm not fully confident that there won't be any infighting, even though outwardly it appears that there is some level of hierarchy and organization within the cartel, despite what happened on Sunday. But, but there are so many key figures who are very powerful and have their own loyal followings within this cartel that it's quite possible that it will still become somewhat fractured. And if that does happen, unfortunately, there will again be an uptick in violence across the country.

[C]

What do you make of reports that this was done with US Intelligence and US and that the, the cartels now are weaponizing US Military grade weapons. So what is the US involvement here? And I have a follow up question for that.

[B]

Well, the US was really open that they conducted a lot of the intelligence that led to El Mencho's capture. I'm under the impression that this was really a US operation. I mean, just over the course of my career, seeing when, you know, I Don't want to speak negatively about Mexican forces, because I think a lot of them do the best they can considering the circumstances. But I think when it comes to an operation like this, I just don't think this would have been a Mexican only operation. It wouldn't have worked. It would have failed. And we've seen historic failures in terms of capturing kingpins or high ups within certain cartels, particularly even the Sinaloa cartel. And this was a big operation, and there was no leak. So I think that the US May have played more of a role than meets the eye, or at least more than they're saying. And I think for two reasons that that's not being said out loud. First is because President Claudia Sheinbaum is a big proponent of maintaining public perception of Mexican sovereignty. And so if there was this collaboration between Mexico and the US to take down one of the most notorious kingpins, one of the most to ever exist in Mexico, then there would have had to have been an agreement that I'm sure Sheinbaum pushed for, in which she said, we need to say that this was mostly a Mexican operation because we cannot have anybody know U.S. or Mexico, that the U.S. ran this operation. I think also the second reason being, and the reason why the US Would have agreed to that is because they would not have wanted to say this was a US Operation, or I don't know if there was or wasn't US Boots on the ground. You know, it wouldn't surprise me. But if they were to say that, then it could possibly lead to retaliation against Americans, and they want to avoid that at all costs. And I just also want to clarify that there has not been any retaliation against Americans. That's been fine. Tourists have not been touched or harmed in any way other than just being locked down in their hotels.

[A]

So what is the purpose then of this attack? Maybe you can unpack that for us. Why take this risk? Why create this chaos and use the government? Yeah, well, against Mencho, what was the heart of this attack? Going after and trying to carry this attack out right now and using US Intelligence in order to do this?

[B]

Oh, well, I mean, there's been this huge crackdown on cartels within the last year, right. Since they were designated foreign terrorist organizations. And so because the Jalisco cartel was just so powerful and so expansive, the only way to in any way hinder their operations or their finances was to literally take down the kingpin. They had just become too powerful for Mexico or for the US to be like, let's go for the right hand in command. Let's go for sanctions and asset seizures. It wouldn't have had an impact. As if they were to take down the kingpin and then let the cartel fracture itself and begin infighting within itself.

[A]

Is it fighting inside? Just real quick, is there infighting? You mentioned the ascension plan. Now for his son, it seems like. And also just real quick, I mean, he's an American citizen, so. So what sort of like extradition can the United States put in place here to swoop in and say, you're now the head of a criminal organization, we'd like to extradite you back to the United States, your home country, to orange County.

[B]

The extradition treaty hasn't mattered over the course of the last year because, I mean, whether he's American or Mexican, it wouldn't have mattered anyways because there have been multiple transfers of fugitives that are fully not American citizens from Mexico to the U.S. they've been expelled by Mexico, transferred to the U.S. and that's not been done under the extradition treaty, which would prevent them from getting the death penalty. And so that's always been on the table. No one has gotten it, obviously. But it's a matter of these individuals who, according to the US Committed crimes against American civilians in society, for them to face the justice system in America. And so even though el cerro Tres is an American citizen, even if he wasn't, it would probably the same legal principle at this point would apply to him. And in terms of infighting, I don't see it happening yet. But this is something that would take a little bit of time for there some conflict to grow, Someone to be unhappy with the way cerotres is running things, or someone to be be demoted by him or someone else to take over certain operations in a state that's very profitable. And that's when that conflict starts to rise and the infighting begins. This has been three days, so not really enough time, especially considering how organized this cartel was, for the infighting to begin.

[C]

Well, what bothers me is the complicity in the power of the cartel from U. S. Sources and Israeli sources. Last year, In March of 2025, we reported that the cartels are using Pegasus software. Pegasus was developed in Israel by a private group, but the idf has to approve every license. So if these Israeli software makers want to sell it to the cartel, the idf has to approve it, and they apparently have. So that's our model ally, allowing the cartel to have this really powerful tracking software where they have been known to track journalists. We know that weapons from Israel and from the United States are in the hands of the cartel. So just killing one person, that's like a starfish. We know it will grow back. What does that really do other than terrorize the people who live there? Why can't we go to the source of this power?

[B]

It doesn't do anything. I'm a big hater of the kingpin strategy. It's never effective and it just causes more violence. And unfortunately, many innocent lives are affected in horrible ways. Whether they die or simply. But not simply, their livelihoods are completely impacted. It affects the economy, it affects jobs, it affects mental health. I mean, you see kids being in the videos that we saw from when on Sunday when cars were being torched on the highway, families with young kids were being kicked out of their vehicles for them to then be torched and those people are left on the side of the road. Normal for a developing brain to see things like that. And the cartels are in fact armed by other countries. Okay. Over 80% of guns that are seized at Mexican crime scenes are American made guns. They're from the U.S. they certainly have Pegasus, which is from Israel. They also have a lot of. There's a nexus between Mexican cartels and the Iranian regime, which also supplies them with a lot of military grade weaponry. I mean, even their drones, a lot of them are from China. And I wouldn't be surprised if they already have access to Iranian shahed drones which we're seeing the Russians use in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So things like that, their level of weaponry keep them so confident and armed to the point where they do not fear Mexican authorities or military because they know that they're basically equal. And, and so I think that when we're talking about, well, what's an effective solution to this or a strategy, that's the million dollar question. And I wish I could give one. I mean, I always am a big proponent of targeting financial pipelines because without money these guys are completely disabled. But that's really hard to do, especially for a cartel like CG&G who has become so advanced in the ways that they launder and hide their money. I couldn't even begin to imagine how something like that would be effective. But at the end of the day, I really do hate the kingpin strategy. I find that every time that it's applied, whether it was with El Chapo or El Mayo, now El Mencho, it just creates a lot of widespread violence. And like you said, it's like a hydra. You chop off the head and two deadlier, scarier ones Grow back.

[A]

How, how involved is, is the CIA or US Intelligence in helping these cartels arming these. We know that they have the weapons, but is there from your reporting like a, you know, an open sort of communications channel? And also why, why would US Intelligence want to be supporting? I mean they do the. We do it around the world, right? We support and fund isis, we support and you know, funded Hamas. Like this is not new for the United States CIA. But why in Mexico?

[B]

Honestly that would be purely speculation if I told you gave you a modern day example of CIA arming and funding the cartels. But we do know that the CIA has played a significant role in the war on drugs in history. I mean we look at Noriega, there are so many examples that we could talk about. But right now, in this very moment, I don't know, I couldn't tell you. And honestly because of the amount of violence that's been going on and just there's this constant ever evolving news cycle that isn't something that I could ever possibly. I honestly don't think I'd even be capable of diving into that. I'm not afraid of admitting where places I can't go or things I don't know that are beyond me. And that's probably one of them. I think right now there has been obviously a lot of CIA intelligence that's work to go against the cartels and to kind of strong arm the Mexican government, the president particularly. But in terms of what is the CIA doing right now to help the cartels? I don't know.

[C]

Well, if journalists like us can take these three. Well one, we know that a lot of raw material for modern day drugs comes from India. Maybe we wanna start there. We know that the cartel has advanced spying software from Israel. That's another ally we can start there. We know they have US made weapons that we are refusing to track. So there are at least three arms that a sincere government could pull the thread and they're refusing to. So yes, I'm not asking you to speculate.

[B]

One thing that has always frustrated me is the fact that fentanyl was created and produced in China and all of those precursors came from China, literally. Chinese chemists came to Mexico to teach the cartels how to make fentanyl. It was a watch and learn process.

[D]

Wow.

[B]

And so the fact that China has never received nearly even a level of backlash from American government the way Mexican cartels have really boggles my mind. And sure, there was a crackdown on CCP led pharmaceutical companies that were producing and trafficking the fentanyl precursors. But all they did was shut those down, move production to Pakistan and India, and the same companies are profiting off producing the precursors to give to the Mexican cartels. It actually got to a point where, believe it or not, the Sinaloa cartel, right before El Maya was kidnapped and brought to the U.S. the Sinaloa cartel was hiring university student chemists to try and figure out how to make fentanyl precursors, like from the raw materials in order to cut out China. And then El Mayo was captured and that operation completely stopped because resources had to go to the infighting of the fractured cartel in Sinaloa.

[A]

I guess we'll get you out of here on this, which is, you know, the violence we've seen over the past few days. Is there an agreement now to halt most of the violence or all of it, sort of a ceasefire agreement that you've heard about, or will this violence continue unabated?

[B]

I haven't heard of an agreement, which is why I'm unsure what this future is gonna look like in the next couple of weeks. I do know that the individual who told the CJNG to start just absolutely causing havoc, and that people who killed National Guard members would be paid $20,000 per National Guard head. He was taken out. He was killed. And so I don't know if this is going to pick up again or if it's calm, but, I mean, I'll be here if anything happens.

[A]

Yeah, well, we'd love to be able to check back with you. We hope our family is safe down there and all of the, you know, all of the innocent civilians who are caught in the. In this horrible violence are safe as well. So, Katrina, thank you so much for your incredible coverage down there and your great journalism. We really appreciate it.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

And by the way, real quick, where can people find your channel if they want to? I saw a bunch of people in the chat room.

[B]

My podcast is Borderland Dispatches. And then my substack, where I go live a lot and write a lot of their articles, is just Send News or my Katarina Schultz substack my name.

[A]

Okay, great. People can dig for that. Awesome. Thanks again. Really appreciate it.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

All right.

[C]

Okay. Well, that's going to do it for today. Do we have any super chats before we go?

[A]

Let me see if we got any here you want to tell people about. Oh, there we got one here from Jamie. Burlington says, legalized coke, problem solved. But they won't because they are all on it. Reagan said just say no while him and Bush flooded the country. Truth, coke and aids.

[C]

Yeah, that's a libertarian take. Legalize it. Like it.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Any other super chats we want to get here? I don't think so, but anyone's coming in. But meanwhile I want to tell them about our newsletter.

[C]

Sure. Yes. Before you go, we want to tell you that our newsletter is live every Monday through Thursday and we write it as a companion piece to this show. So I try really hard to make sure that you are link linked to original source material has some kind of fun news and then usually the types of things we cover are not so fun news. You can imagine tomorrow we're gonna cover the state of the Union. Whatever Trump says tonight we're gonna listen to. I am hoping for no war with Iran. That's, that's what my money is on. I'm not sure. I'm betting on it. I'm. I'm hoping for it.

[A]

There will be one positive that we can all rally around which is the USA hockey team will be there in attendance.

[C]

Well that, that's nice.

[A]

That'll be nice. Okay, but. So people go to redacted.inc. is the website.

[C]

Yeah. You put in your email address and then click authenticate when you get that email and that's it. There's no cross sell or upsell. Nothing is sold to you. It's totally free like this show. So we appreciate your support of this show.

[A]

Tam McIntosh from Edinburgh, Scotland says hello. Love the show. Thank you Tam. Yeah, we're going to be in Scotland this summer. Can't wait to see you.

[C]

Yes. So okay, we will see you then. And as the Scots say tatty bye. We're lost.

[B]

I'm gonna pull over and ask that man for directions.

[C]

Hi there. We're looking to get to the campground.

[D]

Well you're gonna take a left at the old oak tree end of this here road. No, I'm just kidding.

[A]

Let me get my phone out.

[C]

How are you getting a signal out here?

[D]

T Mobile and US Cellular decided to merge. So the network out here is huge. We're getting the same great signal as the city and saving up boatload with all the benefits. Oh, and a five year price guarantee.

[A]

Okay, here's those directions.

[C]

Actually, can you point us in the direction of a T Mobile store?

[A]

America's best network just got bigger. Switch to T Mobile today and get built in benefits the other guys leave out. Plus our five year price guarantee. And now T Mobile is available in US Cellular stores.

[D]

Best mobile network based on an app

[A]

analysis by Google of speed test intelligence

[D]

data 2H2025 bigger network the combination of

[A]

T Mobile's and US Cellular's network footprints

[D]

will enhance the T Mobile network's coverage price guarantee on talk, text and data

[A]

exclusions like taxes and fees apply. See t mobile.com for details.