Pray for Mexico’s Presidential Election and the Cartel War
Please read this article prayerfully, asking for the protection of President Calderon and his administration and God’s guidance for the capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, the most powerful one in Mexico. Pray also for the female candidate chosen by the National Action Party (PAN) to succeed Calderon that she will have the Lord’s favor and support of the Mexican people to win the upcoming election.
Mexico will hold its presidential election July 1 against the backdrop of a protracted war against criminal cartels in the country. Former President Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) launched that struggle; his successor, Felipe Calderon, also of the PAN, greatly expanded it. While many Mexicans apparently support action against the cartels, the Calderon government has come under much criticism for its pursuit of the cartels, contributing to Calderon's low popularity at the moment. The PAN is widely expected to lose in July to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which controlled the Mexican presidency for most of the 20th century until Fox's victory in 2000. According to polls, the PAN has lost credibility among many Mexican voters, many of whom also once again view the PRI as a viable alternative…
Guzman’s Web
Within his home territory of rural Sinaloa state, Guzman is respected and even revered. An almost-mythical figure, he has used his fortune to buy good will and loyalty in his home turf and elsewhere. In addition to his public largesse, Guzman has bribed people for decades. Unlike Los Zetas, the Sinaloa cartel leadership tends to take a long view on corruption. It will often recruit a low-level official and then continue to pay that person as he rises through the ranks…Quite simply, Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel have had police and military officers, politicians, journalists and judges on their payroll for years and even decades…Once an official or politician is on a cartel payroll (a situation similar to a network of sources run by an intelligence agency), he is subject to blackmail should he stop cooperating. And the relationship between a politician and the cartels can go beyond just cash. It can also involve the murder of a rival or provide other forms of non-cash assistance in the attainment of political power.
Guzman has been operating as a high-level narcotics trafficker in Mexico for decades now, and a big part of his operations has involved bribery…We must also note that without Guzman, the dynamics that drive the Mexican cartels would continue, and other leaders or even organizations would rise to take his place. Killing or arresting an individual will not be the end of Mexico's criminal cartels.
Guzman has been a high-profile fugitive for three decades now. He has not survived that long by being careless or stupid. It would be very difficult to track down such an individual in a short window of time established by political calculations unless those responsible already know his exact location and have chosen not to arrest him thus far. ..Still, Guzman is one of the most wanted individuals in the world, and large teams of Mexican and U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agents are trying to locate him. Therefore, it is possible that Guzman could be arrested before the election in July.
MEXICO—Believers Afraid as Violence Spreads to More Mexican Cities
Mexico – Early this week, police in northern Mexico announced the capture of a Zeta drug lord responsible for some 75 deaths. In a separate case this week, 119 other suspects were also charged for drug trafficking (among other things), according to the Law Enforcement Examiner.
With all of these arrests in hand, is the drug war actually being won?
Todd Szalkowski with E3 Partners (E3) (www.mnnonline.org/groups/E3P) just returned from Reynosa, Mexico, and says the violence may actually be getting worse.
“[In Reynosa], I heard stories of the increased violence across Mexico in places where we hadn’t seen it before: Veracruz, Mexico City, Guadalajara. Places that had not been impacted the way that the border had been impacted had seen some of the atrocious gang-style executions that had occurred along the border now happening in these cities,” says Szalkowski.
As evidence of the increased hostility elsewhere, Szalkowski adds, “Women of the church in Reynosa had been invited to a conference in Guadalajara and were afraid to go. These women live in one of the most dangerous cities on earth and were afraid to go to Guadalajara for a women’s conference.”
The violence is affecting believers’ day-to-day lives in a number of ways. Although innocent bystanders are not affected as much, says Szalkowski, nearly every family, it seems, has some ties to drug cartels.
This makes E3’s ministry difficult. For one thing, people are disappearing.
“We’ll see people disappear, and we’re not sure whether or not they’ve disappeared because they have been executed or whether they flee simply to try to hid from the influences they no longer want to be a part of,” notes Szalkowski.
Prayer is a must in this situation.
• Pray for boldness as Christians attempt to share their faith.
• Prayer that they would feel God’s presence.
• Pray that Christians would not be targeted but would be seen as peace-bearers.
• Pray that Mexico would turn to Christ in this time of turmoil.
Read the full story HERE http://www.mnnonline.org/article/16782
Vision About the World Prayer Assembly
“This is what the Lord has been showing and saying. The WPA in Jakarta is going to be the precursor of a global revival which is going to take the whole world by His Spirit. I saw a great wave in the form of a Tsunami. It came in huge force excavating huge strongholds and high places, breaking into pieces every work and structure of darkness and evil. First, the Tsunami destroyed all the high places of darkness and this huge wave swept the debris of all broken down structures.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. All oppressive evil political power structures will come down, all darkness exposed. The ugly face of Satan and his demon angels will be exposed. Some well established ministries too will be shaken up in their roots. With the mighty shaking the Lord is going to shake the Arab world and judge the gods (principality powers) like the way He judged the gods of Egypt during the time of Moses and Pharaoh.
As the evil power structures get uprooted the Lord is also going to make available 'Hidden treasures in secret places' to the body of Christ. Treasures as in Gold and Silver and human resources are going to emerge. "Unsung heroes" in the body of Christ are going to emerge, a new generation of leaders and unique ministries.
The Church in Indonesia has conceived in her womb through years of travail in seasons of persecution. The Church united, cleansed herself, travailed in prayer and went into intimacy with God and she is now ready to give birth to this new wave of the Spirit, the spiritual tsunami. The Church is ready to give birth to global ambassadors of prayer, which will be sent around the world. This great wave of prayer is going to pull down strongholds in every city, province, and village, causing great peoples movements across the world. Peoples of every language, color and nationality will be swept into the kingdom of God. The wave, Tsunami, move of God will not stop but will pick up momentum and the whole world will be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Amen and so be it!
Iranian Peril Needs to be Averted Through Our Prayers
Please read the attached article and pray accordingly. This is one of the most dangerous situations on earth. Please pray for Iran that it will change its stance regarding the acquisition of nuclear weapons and avowed intention to use them against Israel, the USA, and other Western nations.
Excerpt from an article in Newsmax by Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter:
Middle East expert Walid Phares tells Newsmax that the Obama administration is not convinced that the Iranians pose a serious danger – even as a top Iranian official declared that his country is prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike. Phares, while nothing that he believes the Iranian quest for nuclear weapons is “not stoppable,” also says a resolution passed in the U.S. Senate last week is a “message to the administration” that it is time to confront the Islamic republic before it obtains such weapons…
An Iranian official vowed that his country would take pre-emptive action against its enemies if it felt its national interests were endangered. “Our strategy now is that, if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions,” said Mohammad Hejazi, the deputy head of the Islamic republic’s armed forces.
In the exclusive interview with Newmax TV, Phares says economic sanctions on the Iranians won’t persuade them to stop their nuclear weapons development efforts. “The Iranian regime is convinced that they are going to go forward with their program, he says.
“That program includes the nuclear weapon but also the delivery system. They’re working very hard on missiles, both intercontinental when they can, and regional, and certinaly they can put Israel, most of the Arab countries, Europe, Moscow, India, and our fleet in the Gulf and in the eastern Mediterranean in their range. “But they are also going to try to negotiate gain time. In the meantime, the buildup of their weapons system is on. It’s not stoppable.”
Asked whether Israel will disregard urging from the United States not to launch a pre-emptive attack on Iran, Phares responds: “Certainly the Israelis have their own clock that is different from the American clock, the European one, or the Arab one. It has to do with the width of Israel. It has to do with Israel unaccepting the idea that they could absorb one strike. “So if the Iranian regime is very close to putting a weapon on a missile, then no questions asked, [the Israelis] are going to try to take action.”…Pahres adds: “What you see in Iran is preparation for confrontation, and if you don’t confront them, it’s like the National Socialists in the ‘30s. If you don’t stop them, they’re going to continue. After Czechoslovakia, it was Poland, then France. And after Iraq, it’s Syria and then Lebanon and eastern Arabia.
“It seems to me the Obama administration is not convinced that the Iranians are really a threat. It is convinced that they are a nuisance and a deal eventually after those sanctions would work. That’s the view of this administration. But what we have now in the Middle East is way more dangerous than what we had before, even after the killing of bin Laden and after the Arab spring. What we have now is an Iran that is much closer to the bomb. And you have the rest of the Middle East falling slowly under the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
The United States needs to contain Iran and the jihadists and partner with real democratic forces in the Middle East that are ready to work with America, Phares says.
