SCRAPS OF WISDOM — KEEPING A COMMONPLACE BOOK

Creative writing stands upon two concrete, foundational pillars. Ideas and information. As a metaphor, information is cement and ideas are the mixer. You can’t build a story or construct an article without either. And there’s a long-used tool that lets you blend ideas and information within one toolbox. The box contains scraps of wisdom—keeping a commonplace book.

Just as it sounds, it’s storing your scraps of ideas and bits of information in one common place. This creative support isn’t new. It’s been used over the millennia by great thinkers and writers like Marcus Aurelius, Leonardo da Vinci, Charles Darwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Virginia Woolf, Ayn Rand, John Locke, H.P. Lovecraft, Mark Twain, and Isaac Newton to name a few. Many creatives today retain a commonplace to fuel and inspire them, and many swear it’s their main receptacle of wisdom.

I started the DyingWords blog thirteen years ago. After creating five hundred posts, writing twenty-one book publications, and penning several thousand content pieces for commercial websites, my commonplace book has grown into three volumes cut & pasted full of quotes, sayings, anecdotes, observations, jokes, memes, proverbs, prayers, affirmations, formulas, sermons, remedies, pictures, drawings, topics, discoveries, examples, situations, comments, captures, notes, insights, lyrics, phrases, and even recipes. All are little scraps that arise through information and maybe will morph into big ideas.

I’m going to open my commonplace book and show you a random selection of what’s inside. You never know, you might find a takeaway you can build upon. First, let’s look at the big picture of what commonplace books are. And, equally important, what commonplace books are not.

The best descriptor I could find of a commonplace book is a Personal Knowledge Management System. If you Google “commonplace book” or ask ChatGPT, you’ll find oodles of links and helpful tips on a centralized, personally curated, and continuously maintained collection can be—personally curated being the operative phrase. This is not the sort of database you can buy at Staples (although you can buy binders like I use for mine).

At the core, your commonplace book is like a strainer. It’s a tool for storing and sifting whatever you come across that seems interesting, pertinent, or might come handy in the future. By the way, you don’t have to be a creative writer to keep a commonplace. It works for recipes, sports cards, dried insects or leaves, bus tickets, celebrity autographs, and even biological samples if you’re into it.

Seriously, commonplace books are private spaces for private thoughts. They are not daily logs, narrative journals, to-do lists, or drafts of work-in-place. Commonplace books are simply scrapbooks but generally lean toward one theme. In my case, they contain ideas and information I can use to develop projects and better understand the world.

The word “commonplace” traces back to ancient Greece where a law courts speaker or politician would keep an assortment of arguments in a “common place” for easy reference. The Romans called them locus communis meaning “a theme or argument of general application” such as a statement of proverbial wisdom. But the commonplace book would only come into its own during the European Enlightenment when an exploding volume of printed media collided with changing political and societal norms. Commonplace books provided a private place for people to note information and store it to help work out thoughts and ideas.

In 1706, philosopher John Locke described his archival process in a book titled A New Method of Making Common-Place-Books. This set the standard for what would become a mainstream storage and organizational system that allowed their keeper to act in the external world more effectively by isolating truly important material. In Locke’s words and vernacular of the times, We extract only those Things which are Choice and Excellent, either for the Matter itself, or else for the Elegancy of the Expression, and not what comes next.

A fundamental structure of commonplace books is they’re not structured in any order—not a flowing or chronological narrative such as recording in a personal journal. Rather, they’re a random collection of come-across snippets that relate to the beholder and are meaningful in some or many ways.

Most creatives understand the value in writing down ideas. There’s a cognitive link between discovering information and transposing it by hand to a page. Capturing and retaining words and images then storing in in a repository frees up mental horsepower for thinking and creating. Material in a commonplace book becomes an extension of the mind—a backup of what can be profound as a personal compass or a guide—a mental sketchbook.

I’ll relate my personal story of developing a commonplace book. Ten years ago, I was working with my writing mentor. That was back before he was famous, and I still had some color in my hair. He asked, “Do you keep a commonplace book?” I replied, “What’s that?” He said, “It’s a scrapbook where you store bits of wisdom for future reference and motivation.”

That hit home about putting my scraps of wisdom into a book. Till then, I had yellow, sticky Post-it notes stuck about my studio. I had pictures and photocopies and cut-outs and banners of relevant stuff here and there and all over the place. It was a mess and growing messier by the week.

I’m not sure where the idea came from, but I went to Staples and bought a three-ringed binder and some clear sheet protectors along with a roll of Scotch tape. For what seemed like hours, I peeled and pasted my relevant stuff onto the sheets and made sure there was no particular order—just a random bunch of, well, relevant stuff.

It’s now grown to three binders and nearly ready for a fourth. Usually, I see an image or a quote on the net or in my email and I either screenshot or highlight it, transfer into a Word.doc, print it, and then simply scissor it out and tape it onto the clear sheet. It’s just like playing with paper dolls.

I’m not saying my binder method is right for you or anyone else. I’ve read that others use index cards. Some store digitally. And a few use a plain old notebook. Whatever works to store and retrieve your scraps of wisdom.

Enough about this. I’m sure you’d like to snoop through my three commonplace volumes. Welcome to my writing and recording studio. Here’s some random snips!

 

HOW A PLANTED BRITISH CORPSE HOAXED THE NAZI WAR MACHINE

In April 1943, the body of Royal Marine Major William Martin washed up on the Spanish shore. With him were top secret documents confirming the Allies planned invasion of Italy via Greece and the Balkans rather than through Sicily which the Axis expected. This critical information caused Hitler to change strategy and redeploy forces leaving Sicily practically undefended. But it was a trick, a brilliant and resourceful scam conducted by British Naval Intelligence, and it worked. The body was not Major Martin, rather a homeless derelict—a planted British corpse that hoaxed the Nazi war machine.

This elaborate ruse was perhaps the most ingenious fraud ever perpetrated in a global conflict. It was a shrewd and crafty gambit that took incredible preparation and was flawlessly executed. With Sicily wide open as the soft underbelly of Europe, the Allied forces took the land much sooner and with far fewer casualties than earlier anticipated, thanks to a sacrificed body. As a British intelligence officer who helped mastermind Operation Mincemeat said about the repurposed cadaver, “The man was a bit of a ne’er-do-well. The only worthwhile thing he ever did came after his death. He was possibly the most unlikely hero of the entire Second World War.”

We’ll get into who this dead drifter really was and how he came to con the Nazis as well as how the British organized the deceit. First, though, let’s look at history and what was going on in the Mediterranean in the spring of 1943 that required such an elaborate fake.

By January 1943 the Allies had nearly secured victory against the Axis in North Africa. British and American planners set their sights on an Italian invasion to take down Mussolini and drive their way up Italy and into the heart of Europe with the end goal of destroying the German forces. The obvious route was from North Africa and through Sicily. The Axis planners knew this too and were well prepared to stop it.

“Everyone but a bloody fool would know that it’s Sicily,” British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said at the time. “We must find a way to divert this obvious strategy. We need Hitler to believe it’s going to be Greece and the Balkans.”

That task fell to the British Office of Naval Intelligence and was code-named Operation Barclay. The disinformation campaign was overseen by Admiral John Godfrey and assisted by Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming who would later go on to be the famous spy novelist, creating James Bond. It was Fleming who came up with the idea of planting a dead body carrying highly classified but completely false documentation that would find its way straight to the Nazi top.

The fake body sub-project of Barclay was named Operation Mincemeat. It was approved by Prime Minister Churchill and Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, it was a calculated risk for if the Axis detected a ploy, it might have cemented a conviction that Sicily was the true target and the eventual invasion could be a disaster for the Allies.

Godfrey and Fleming assigned the job to intelligence officers Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley). Montagu and Cholmondeley started their body search on February 4, 1943, by contacting the London coroner service. There were some strict parameters to have the cadaver fit the role of a highly trusted messenger—male, Caucasian, mid-thirties to early forties, in reasonable physical shape, recently deceased with limited decomposition, not autopsied, and with a cause of death being consistent with exposure to water and drowning. Also, that the dead man had no close relatives or anyone who would claim the body as this operation had to be kept vitally secure.

They quickly found their man. Welshman Glyndwr Michael, age 32, died on January 24, 1943, and was stored in the London morgue. Michael was a homeless man with no relatives to claim him. He’d been found unconscious in a vacant warehouse, presumably after eating bread scraps laced with rat poison, and died in hospital from pneumonia complications. As the cause of death was clear, the coroner did not autopsy Glyndwr Michael and had him cold stored awaiting a legal disposal.

Glyndwr Michael was the perfect fit. His remains were still in good shape, and the effect of pneumonia and fluid on the lungs would be consistent with appearing to be drowning after an airplane crash over the Atlantic waters off western Spain. The coroner, whose delightful name was Bentley Purchase, released Michael to Cholmondeley and Montagu who moved the cadaver to a truck loaded with dry ice.

Now it was time to build a detailed and credible backstory, knowing full well that German intelligence would have a microscopic look to see if Major Willam Martin was real or not.

William Martin was a common and unassuming name. He was given the rank of Captain, Acting Major in the Royal Marines and outfitted with the appropriate uniform and insignias. His military identification was carefully forged with a dead-ringer, look-alike photo and his “pocket fodder” was meticulously built. Major Martin’s effects included:

  • Two dated ticket stubs to a London concert.
  • A receipt for the purchase of a diamond engagement ring.
  • A bank demand for repayment of an overdraft note.
  • A photo of his finance “Pam”.
  • A love letter from Pam.
  • A contentious letter from his father citing family troubles.
  • Stamps, coins, and bills.
  • A metal identity band.
  • Saint Christoper’s medal.
  • Wristwatch and keys.

These items were corroborative to the normal life of a person like Major Martin. While they were convincing of his identity, the prize and purpose of this ruse sat inside a black attaché case chained to his belt holding an explicit document—an official dispatch from Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Nye, vice chair of the Imperial General Staff, to General Sir Harold Alexander, commander of the 18th Army Group stationed in North Africa. Part of the letter read:

We have recent information that the Bosche have been reinforcing and strengthening their defences in Greece and Crete and C.I.G.S. felt that our forces for the assault were insufficient. It was agreed by the Chiefs of Staff that the 5th Division should be reinforced by one Brigade Group for the assault on the beach south of CAPE ARAXOS and that a similar reinforcement should be made for the 56th Division at KALAMATA.

To add further credibility, the attaché case contained an introductory letter for Major Martin addressed to Admiral of the Fleet Sir A.B. Cunningham who was in Algiers. It was personally signed by Lord Louis Mountbatten.

It was now trap setting time. Major Martin’s dressed and outfitted corpse was loaded into the British submarine HMS Seraph. At night, on April 30, 1943, the Seraph surfaced 1/4 mile off the coast of Huelva, Spain. The body, fitted in a military flotation device, was set into the sea. Given a pull by an incoming tide and a push by the submarine’s propellers, the floating corpse washed up on the Spanish shore where it was found around 9:30 am by two Spanish fishermen.

This was an intentional and calculated offloading site. Allied intelligence was fully aware of an active spy well connected to the Nazis living in Huelva. They also knew the operations of the Huelva authorities who recovered the body. As per their death investigation protocol, Major Martin’s body was autopsied. A later obtained report concluded the death was drowning after exposure to sea water with his identity confirmed by the effects he was carrying. The Martin remains were released to the local British consulate, and he was formally buried in a Huelva cemetery where he still lies today.

So, what became of the secret messages? This is where the story gets interesting. After Major Martin was reported missing and presumed dead, the British authorities began a “frantic” search for him and with an “obsessed” interest in recovering the sensitive material. Their communication with the Spainards was intercepted by Nazi intelligence who now knew what was in those documents.

History proves the Nazis obtained copies of all material that was in the case connected to Martin’s belt. The sealed envelope was steamed open and resealed after immersion in salt water. Promptly, all of Martin’s effects, including the “never opened” case, were given to the consulate and returned to England.

Cleverly, the Operation Mincemeat team knew the Nazis had swallowed the bait. They’d placed an eyelash inside the sealed envelope when it left with Major Martin. Now the eyelash was gone.

History also proves the Martin documents reached German High Command in Belin and to the Fuhrer himself. After the war, a British officer in charge of examining the captured German naval archives uncovered a file especially prepared for Admiral Karl Donitz and Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel prior to a meeting with Hitler dated 14 May 1943, fourteen days after Martin’s body was discovered. In it were copies of all the Martin documents and a notation from Donitz that “The Fuhrer does not agree that the most likely invasion point is Sicily. He believes that the discovered Anglo-Saxon order confirms that the attack will be directed mainly against Sardinia and the Peloponnesus.”

The Allied invasion on Sicily began on July 10, 1943. It met with light resistance due to Hitler being convinced that “the authenticity of the captured documents is beyond dispute”. He moved most Sicilian defense forces across to the Balkans, and the rest is history. A planted British corpse truly hoaxed the Nazi war machine.

Exerpt from the book The Man Who Never Was written by Ewen Montagu:

DONALD TRUMP EFFECTIVELY WAGES WAR ON CARTELS

On his first day back in office, January 20, 2025, United States President Donald Trump signed an extraordinarily powerful executive order titled Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorists Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The document contains terms like “unacceptable national security risk”, “take all appropriate action”, and “ensure the total elimination of these organizations”. With a black pen and a bold signature, Donald Trump has effectively waged war on the cartels.

Trump’s action is unprecedented. It commands his military, law enforcement, and security agencies to devise a designation plan and begin direct action within fourteen days. By Monday, February 03, 2025, it’s open season on domestic and foreign criminals (now designated as terrorists) like the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Mexican cartels as well as Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) in Central America.

Let’s examine what this document says, look at who the intended targets are, and speculate on what will happen to them. First, though, here’s a synopsis of what a presidential executive order is and the spectacular authority it contains.

Article II of the Constitution of the United States opens with “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Using accredited legal resources from Black’s Law Dictionary and the United States Supreme Court database, here’s what this means:

In the context of Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which discusses the role of the President, the terms “executive,” “power,” and “vested” have specific meanings:

  1. Executive: This term refers to the branch of government responsible for enforcing laws and administering public policy. In the United States, the executive branch is headed by the President. The term encompasses the idea of executing or carrying out the laws and directives legislated by the government.
  2. Power: In this context, “power” refers to the legal authority or capacity to act granted to the President and the executive branch. This includes a wide range of duties and responsibilities such as implementing and enforcing laws, directing national defense and foreign policy, and managing the day-to-day operations of the federal government.
  3. Vested: “Vested” means conferred, endowed, or established in a specific position or authority. When the Constitution states that the “executive Power shall be vested in a President,” it means that the full authority of the executive branch is formally and securely given to the President.

Therefore, the opening clause of Article 2 establishes that the President holds the full authority to operate the executive branch of the U.S. government. Of utmost importance is the President’s responsibility of keeping the nation and its citizens safe. The cartels, now designated as terrorists, are a “clear and present danger” to Americans which justifies using whatever force is necessary to eliminate the threat.

Executive orders are long-standing tools allowing the president to bypass the glacier-slow process of Congress and act directly on urgent matters. For example, the continual and rising threat of international criminal organizations that do not respond to conventional law enforcement strategies and tactics. These orders are highly enforceable, provided they operate within existing federal statutes and constitutional boundaries.

Once orders are issued, they have the force of law, and federal agencies are compelled to implement and enforce them, However, executive orders can be challenged through the courts. They can also be repealed by the issuing president or reversed by successors.

The true power in executive orders is how they’re worded. No president drafts them alone. They are carefully constructed by presidential advisors and legal experts who ensure the orders are clear, purposeful, and able to strongly withstand scrutiny.

President Trump backs the terrorist designation through existing statutes that guarantee his ability to take immediate action on such a high-profile problem. In the order’s opening, he evokes the Immigration and Nationality Act and the International Emergency Economics Powers Act. Additionally, in his inaugural address when he states his intention to sign the anti-cartel/terrorist order, Trump references the Alien Enemy and Sedition Act of 1798 which exists and is an immense weapon in his arsenal.

Here’s the entirety of the order to knock out the cartels. It’s important to read this carefully and pay attention to the words and terms stated.

Executive Order—Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA),50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. it is hereby ordered:

Section 1. Purpose

This order creates a process by which certain international cartels (the Cartels) and other organizations will be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, consistent with section 219 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1189), or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, consistent with IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001 (Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism), as amended.

(a) International cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime, with activities encompassing:

(i) convergence between themselves and a range of extra-hemispheric actors, from designated foreign-terror organizations to antagonistic foreign governments;

(ii) complex adaptive systems, characteristic of entities engaged in insurgency and asymmetric warfare; and

(iii) infiltration into foreign governments across the Western Hemisphere.

The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs.

The Cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States. In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society.

The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere. Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.

(b) Other transnational organizations, such as Tren de Aragua (TdA) and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) pose similar threats to the United States. Their campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally are extraordinarily violent, vicious, and similarly threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.

(c) The Cartels and other transnational organizations, such as TdA and MS-13, operate both within and outside the United States. They present an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. I hereby declare a national emergency, under IEEPA, to deal with those threats.

Sec. 2. Policy

It is the policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures, thereby protecting the American people and the territorial integrity of the United States.

Sec. 3. Implementation

(a) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of State shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to make a recommendation regarding the designation of any cartel or other organization described in section 1 of this order as a Foreign Terrorist Organization consistent with 8 U.S.C. 1189 and/or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist consistent with 50 U.S.C. 1702 and Executive Order 13224.

(b) Within 14 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to make operational preparations regarding the implementation of any decision I make to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, 50 U.S.C. 21 et seq., in relation to the existence of any qualifying invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States by a qualifying actor, and to prepare such facilities as necessary to expedite the removal of those who may be designated under this order.

Sec. 4. General Provisions

(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP

The White House,

January 20, 2025

In closely reviewing this document, these phrases stand out:

  • Certain international cartels (the Cartels)
  • Other organizations
  • Designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
  • National security threat
  • Beyond that posed by traditional organized crime
  • Range of extra-hemispheric actors
  • Antagonistic foreign governments
  • Complex adaptive systems
  • Entities engaged in insurgency
  • Asymmetric warfare
  • Unacceptable national security threat
  • Stability of international order
  • Within and outside the United States
  • Ensure total elimination of these organizations
  • Extraterritorial command-and-control structures
  • Within 14 days
  • Designate
  • Take all appropriate action

Them’s fightin’ words. No matter what one thinks of Donald Trump as a person, no one can deny that he’s a man of action. Trump has effectively waged war on the cartels. Let’s examine who these organizations are that are gonna get it and then investigate what weapons Trump will use to win a war where he’s determined to triumph.

Back to our legal resources, a criminal cartel refers to an organization formed by individuals or businesses who engage in illegal activities, particularly those that involve economic crimes such as price fixing, market division, bid rigging, or other antitrust violations. These activities are typically secret and aim to control or manipulate markets, restrict competition, inflate prices, or maintain high profit margins through illicit means.

Specifically, a drug trafficking cartel is a criminal organization involved in the large-scale production, transportation, and distribution of illegal drugs. These cartels operate with a hierarchical structure that often includes leaders, middlemen, enforcers, and distributors. Their operations span multiple countries and regions, making them complex and extensive networks that are difficult for law enforcement to dismantle.

Drug cartels are known for their violent methods to control territories, eliminate competition, and influence government and law enforcement entities through corruption and intimidation. The immense profits derived from drug trafficking allow these cartels to wield significant power and resources, which they often use to perpetuate their criminal activities and evade justice.

Under United States law, a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) is defined as a foreign organization that:

  1. Engages in terrorist activity or terrorism, which threatens the security of U.S. nationals or the national security (national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the United States.
  2. Is designated by the Secretary of State, in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Terrorist activity includes actions like hijackings, kidnappings, assassinations, the use of explosives, firearms, or other weapons intended to cause death or serious bodily injury, and violent attacks on internationally protected persons.

The designation of an organization as an FTO has significant legal implications. It becomes illegal for persons in the United States or subject to U.S. jurisdiction to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to a designated FTO. U.S. financial institutions are also required to freeze assets linked to FTOs. Additionally, members and representatives of designated FTOs are barred from receiving visas and may be excluded from entering the country.

These organizations contribute to a wide range of societal problems, including public health crises, crime, violence, and corruption, profoundly impacting the stability and security of the regions in which they operate.

By his executive order signed on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump has linked the drug cartels to foreign terrorists. He has way more authority and resources to attack his enemies when they are labeled as terrorists, foreign terrorists, and that will be done by February 3rd. These are the primary groups in his crosshairs:

Sinaloa Cartel: The Sinaloa Cartel, based in Mexico, is one of the most powerful and notorious drug trafficking organizations globally. Originally led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the cartel has played a major role in the global narcotics trade, especially in the production and distribution of Mexican heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, and cocaine. Known for its sophisticated smuggling operations and violent enforcement tactics, the cartel has significantly influenced drug trafficking dynamics, contributing to widespread violence and corruption within Mexico and impacting drug policy and law enforcement efforts in the United States and other countries.

Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG): The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, often abbreviated as CJNG, emerged as a powerful drug trafficking entity in Mexico around 2010. Known for its aggressive expansion tactics and direct confrontations with both rival cartels and state forces, CJNG rapidly grew into one of the most formidable and violent cartels in Mexico. Under the leadership of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” the cartel operates with extreme brutality and engages in a wide range of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, extortion, and murder, significantly affecting Mexico’s security landscape.

Tren de Aragua: Tren de Aragua is a criminal gang originating from the Aragua state in Venezuela, initially formed within the Tocorón prison in 1986. It has since evolved into one of the most feared and violent criminal organizations in Venezuela, extending its operations to other Latin American countries. Engaged in drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, and human trafficking, Tren de Aragua’s activities have not only destabilized regions within Venezuela but also posed significant challenges to law enforcement across borders, reflecting the broader issues of prison-based gang control and corruption in Venezuela.

Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13): Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is a transnational gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s, founded by Salvadoran immigrants in the city’s Pico-Union neighborhood. The gang later expanded into Central America when its members were deported from the U.S., significantly impacting the region’s stability. MS-13 is known for its brutal violence and its involvement in various criminal activities, including murder, human trafficking, drug trafficking, and extortion. The gang’s extensive network and ruthless tactics have made it a major focus of law enforcement agencies in the United States and Central America, symbolizing the complex interplay between migration, deportation, and transnational crime.

Other honorable mentions go to these mostly defunct players from a former era:

  • Los Zetas Cartel
  • Gulf Cartel
  • Tijuana Cartel
  • Beltran-Leyva Organization

So those are the thugs placed on notice. That leads to questioning how Donald Trump and his American resources will carry out the plan, much of which will occur on foreign soil and within other sovereign territory. These are the strategic and tactical options:

  1. International Diplomacy
  2. Legal Measures
  3. Sanctions and Asset Freezes
  4. Prosecution under FTO laws
  5. Increased Surveillance and Intelligence
  6. Interagency Cooperation
  7. Use of Advanced Technology
  8. Deployment of Special Forces

The most likely scenario will be a combination of the first seven. Option 8, actively placing American soldiers on foreign ground has extreme risks, both from international relations and personnel safety. That will likely be a last resort and only in highly-planned, attack and retract situations.

More likely is the Trump administration will take a page from the recent Israeli playbook. They’ll identify the leaders’ locations and kill them with guided munitions. Then they’ll take away the money and arms.

But never underestimate the cajónes on Donald Trump. While signing the Designation Order, a reporter asked if he would deploy American soldiers on the ground in Mexico. Trump smiled and said, “You never know. Stranger things have happened.”