PDB Afternoon Bulletin | April 2nd, 2025: The Disturbing Way Mexico's Deadliest Cartel Recruits New Members & Israel's Plan To Seize Parts Of Gaza
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It's Wednesday, the 2nd of April. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, we'll look at the latest findings from the Mexican government's investigation into a cartel-operated ranch that authorities have dubbed a, quote, extermination camp.

Later in the show, Israel has announced a major expansion of their military operations in Gaza, outlining plans to seize large areas of the Gaza Strip to annex into Israel's security zones. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

We'll begin today south of the U.S. border with a new look at the operations of one of Mexico's deadliest drug cartels as new details from an investigation into a ranch used for mass killings reveal the tactics employed by the cartel to recruit new members. We recently brought you the story of the Izaguirre Ranch in the western Mexico state of Jalisco.

Last month, a group of volunteers searching for their missing loved ones uncovered what authorities have called an extermination camp. On the ranch, authorities discovered underground cremation ovens, burned human remains, and more than 700 personal items scattered across the property, suggesting a disturbingly high number of victims. Officials say the ranch was run by the New Generation Jalisco Cartel, which first emerged in the early 2010s.

after its members split from the Sinaloa cartel.

The Jalisco Cartel is led by Nemicio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, better known by his alias, El Mencho. The cartel is a major trafficker of the deadly opioid fentanyl, as well as methamphetamine, and also engages in large-scale human trafficking. The cartel rapidly expanded throughout the 2010s and has since garnered a reputation as one of the most violent criminal groups in Mexico, and that frankly is no small feat given the competition.

Their rise to power was marked by a sharp increase in homicides, disappearances, and the discovery of mass graves in the region. The extermination ranch was originally discovered last September, but local officials are accused now of engaging in a cover-up on behalf of the cartel. In March, after the highly publicized findings of the local volunteers, Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum intervened, directing the state attorney general's office to take over the investigation.

Through that investigation, we've learned more about how the cartel recruits new members, and as you might imagine, the findings are disturbing. While the cartel engages in the targeted recruitment of ex-military and police forces to make up their primary force, they also rely on the forced recruitment of locals, who are then trained in their violent techniques at locations such as the Jalisco Ranch, according to a report from the Associated Press.

So far, investigators have identified at least 60 social media pages linked to the cartel offering fake job opportunities with weekly salaries well above the national average. They're intended to lure desperate locals into their criminal enterprise. But by the time recruits realize that they've been duped, well, they're forced to gunpoint to join the cartel.

One recruit told authorities that hopeful applicants for the fake job postings would be told to meet at a bus station in Guadalajara before being taken to the Jalisco Ranch, where they were trained with weapons and in torture techniques. The young recruits would reportedly be forced to take part in the torture and killing of victims, and if they refused, well, they themselves were beaten, tortured, and killed.

Now, despite the revelations, it's important to note that the cartel still enjoy the support of locals and the protection of corrupt regional authorities. At least three police officers in Jalisco have been arrested since March due to their suspected involvement in disappearances at the ranch.

It's hard to overstate, and it's actually hard to understand also, the loyalty that locals feel towards the cartel and its leaders. Just last weekend, El Mencho drew renewed attention after his image was projected on a big screen at a regional music festival in Jalisco, drawing cheers from the crowd. Scheinbaum, along with Jalisco's governor, condemned the display, and the Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office said they'd open an investigation into the incident. Well, that should do it.

But such displays of respect are, frankly, not uncommon, and they underscore the deeper hold that cartels can have on local populations, often by cynically using their drug profits to paint themselves as benevolent protectors of the poor. In December, for example, Mexican prosecutors launched an investigation after videos circulated showing a sign at a local Christmas fair thanking El Menchil for giving holiday gifts to children. Well, isn't that special?

The findings from the extermination camp investigation come as Mexico faces continued economic pressure from the Trump administration to crack down on the cartels. In recent months, the Mexican government has stepped up enforcement, dispatching 10,000 troops in early February to cartel strongholds along the border and hundreds more to Sinaloa State, the main hub for fentanyl trafficking.

A series of high-profile arrests, drug seizures, and fentanyl lab busts have followed. Officials recently said they've made nearly 1,000 arrests since the crackdown began and seized nearly as much fentanyl in the last five months as they did the entire previous year. Coming up next, Israel has announced a major expansion of their military operations in Gaza, outlining plans to seize large areas of the enclave. I'll be right back.

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Like a bull in a china shop, Donald Trump came in to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C. But with his bold reform and rejuvenation agenda comes so many legal questions. Nationwide injunctions. Are they constitutional? What's the deal with birthright citizenship? What about the administrative state? Can he actually clean the deep state and end the politicization of the federal bureaucracy?

I'm Josh Hammer, host of America on Trial with Josh Hammer. Subscribe to America on Trial with Josh Hammer for your daily updates on all of these questions and more. Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin.

Israel on Wednesday announced a sweeping expansion of its renewed ground campaign in Gaza, vowing to seize large areas of the enclave and incorporate them into controlled security zones. In a statement, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the expanded offensive aims to "crush and cleanse" Hamas and dismantle its terror infrastructure in the territory. He added that mass evacuation orders of Palestinians would continue in areas where Israeli forces are operating.

Katz issued a blunt appeal to Gaza's population to, quote, act now to eliminate Hamas and return all the kidnapped, calling it the only viable path toward ending the war. His words reflect an increasingly hardened tone from the Israeli government and, come as entire neighborhoods around Rafah now lie empty following repeated IDF evacuation orders. Local Palestinian radio reports that the city is nearly abandoned.

Katz stopped short of disclosing whether the planned territorial seizures are temporary or part of a permanent annexation plan. However, as we discussed earlier this week on the PDB, Israeli officials say the IDF could occupy up to 25% of Gaza in the coming weeks. Such a maneuver would mark the largest redrawing of Gaza's map since Israel's withdrawal from the territory back in 2005.

As our regular listeners are aware, the current ground push resumed in mid-March after a two-month ceasefire collapsed. During the first phase of that truce, 33 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for approximately 1,800 terrorists and Palestinian prisoners. Israel, obviously, continues their demands for the immediate return of the 59 remaining hostages. Of those, just 24 are believed to be alive, and that would include American Israeli Eden Alexander.

Negotiations with Hamas, stalled after the terror group, refused to release half of those hostages as a condition for extending the ceasefire. Prime Minister Netanyahu has reiterated that talks will now only proceed "under fire" of airstrikes and ground operations.

Meanwhile, Katz confirmed last month the formation of a new directorate inside the Defense Ministry tasked with facilitating what he called the, quote, voluntary emigration of Palestinians from Gaza. That directorate's work appears to mirror proposals floated by President Trump back in February aimed at relocating the enclaves from approximately 2.3 million people.

Katz emphasized that the current military operations are "fully coordinated" with the Trump administration. The plan has, not surprisingly, drawn swift international condemnation. Human rights organizers and United Nations officials have blasted it as ethnic cleansing, a charge that Israel denies. Regional powers like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have already condemned Israel's escalating offensive, warning that it risks igniting a wider conflict.

Katz's announcement represents more than just an operational update. It's a recalibration of Israel's endgame. By laying the groundwork for potential long-term control over parts of Gaza, the Defense Ministry appears to be carving out a new post-war reality, one in which a permanent Israeli military presence could be inevitable.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Wednesday, the 2nd of April. If you have any questions or comments, and hopefully you do, well, just reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. Of course, word on the street is that to listen to the show ad-free, just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.

Hey, I'm Mike Slater. I have a podcast called Politics by Faith. We have a very simple mission. We take the news of the day and we filter it through a biblical worldview. So here's the big story of the day. What does the Bible say about it? And how can we apply it? It's amazing. There's nothing new under the sun. The Bible has something to say about everything.

that's going on today. So basically we thumped the Bible over on Politics by Faith. I think we got to keep MAGA going. And I think the way to take it beyond just a political victory into a true rebuilding and awakening and revival in America is to make sure that this is all grounded in biblical principles. And that's what we do on the podcast, Politics by Faith. And you can subscribe to Politics by Faith wherever you're listening to the show right now.