In this episode of The Mag Life Podcast, Daniel visits with Ed Calderon, a former Mexican police agent with extensive experience and understanding of border control issues, drug cartels, and the complexities that exist between the US and Mexico.

Born in Tijuana, Mexico in the 80s, Ed decided to go into police work when he was 21. For over a decade he worked in counter-narcotics, investigation of organized crime, executive protection, and public safety along the northern border of Mexico. Later, he came to the US and is now recognized as one of the world's most preeminent researchers and personal security trainers, offering security consulting, seminars, and private training in anti-abduction, escape and evasion, unarmed combat, unconventional edged-weapon work, and region-specific executive protection.
Together, Daniel and Ed discuss complex issues about the escalation of the Mexican Drug War, foreign gun-running, US intervention, issues of governance and firearms ownership in Mexico (and the parallels in the US), human trafficking, and more.
https://media.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/s/content.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/187_Ed_Calderon_Things_Most_People_Don_t_Know.mp3

Host: Daniel Shaw

Guest: Ed Calderon

Introduction/Timeline: Eric Huh





Ed Calderon is recognized as one of the world's preeminent researchers and trainers in the field of personal security.02:22 Imparting Valuable Skills to Others

Daniel inquiries about the life-saving skills Ed learned on the job while he was active in Latin America and Mexico. Ed’s extensive background in counter-narcotics work has covered escape and evasion—namely, how to:

escape from handcuffs,
manufacture tools for survival,
be armed in non-permissive environments,
look for early warning signs of an ambush in an urban setting, and
understand the social norms in Mexico.

He has brought his in-depth, hands-on experience in the undercover narcotics world to other law enforcement agencies in the United States (FBI, Secret Service, among others) so that they may be better equipped for threats across the border.

06:05 What scares you?

Daniel asks Ed what genuinely scares him. Ed replies that his one fear is to not live without a purpose. Having faced a great many near-death experiences, Ed has become numb to the idea of physical danger. Rather, it is the concept of having gone through what he did and not being able to bring meaning to his experiences.

“You know, people think ‘Hey aren’t you afraid of the cartels coming after you and shit like that?’ If I was I wouldn’t have gone into this line of work when I was 21. So that specific thing doesn’t really… make me lose sleep. What does make me lose sleep is having gone through that whole experience and not making it worth it. Or not giving it some sort of purpose.”

Ed Calderon, counter custody expert.

07:22 What should scare the American public?

Daniel flips the question: “Based on everything you know… what should WE be scared about?”

Ed feels that American public scrutiny immensely neglects the sheer amount of Chinese government influence with Mexican drug cartels, and how their activities are increasingly becoming a threat to national security. He cites that the Chinese have a direct hand in fentanyl supply to cartels, a strong influence in major American industries. He further adds that this is occurring with full knowledge of the Communist Party in China.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG) actually managed to grow in size and in influence during the COVID epidemic when all other organizations and institutions halted, due to being able to receive fentanyl shipments. They were able to do so because they had supreme control of the ports that faced the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, the Sinaloa Cartel has been smuggling fentanyl from the US, processing this into their product, then smuggling it to be sold into the US. In essence,