Mexican Drug Cartels Threaten American National Security
If we're not careful we could face a narco-state on our southern border
The American media have finally caught up to the mounting danger of the violent internal struggle in our southern neighbor, Mexico. Heavily armed narco-criminal cartels financed by billions of dollars of drug money have engaged in murders, kidnappings, and assassinations, terrifying the Mexican population. These gangs have brought chaos to a number of cities and states along our border and destroyed trust in law enforcement there.
Mexican academic Edgardo Buscaglia estimates that there are some 200 counties in Mexico, roughly 8 percent of the total, where drug gangs wield more influence than the authorities. They are concentrated in the northern areas adjacent to the United States. The cartels are better armed than the police—and even the military—with arms and weapons purchased in the United States. They are able to field as many as 10,000-plus gunmen in regions where police don't earn enough to resist being corrupted or to live with the constant danger of being killed.
This is a mortal threat to the rule of law in large areas of Mexico, raising the risk that the country may become a failed state. Or, as retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, former U.S. drug czar, suggested, Mexico "might well become a narco state within a decade."
This is no small matter for the United States. Should Mexico fail to restore control, millions of refugees could join their other economically motivated countrymen in trying to cross the U.S. border. There are already a million legal border crossings every day along our mostly unfenced and unmarked 2,000-mile frontier, which, alas, lends itself to as many as a million illegal border crossings a year. Mexico is also a substantial business partner. As just one example of the trade ties, Mexico provides one third of our imported oil.
The only good news is that Mexico's leaders—President Felipe Calderón, the attorney general, and the head of the federal police—are facing up to the threat. Given the unreliability of the civilian law enforcement agencies and the police, the president has bravely deployed the armed forces in violence-plagued cities in the north.
America must support these efforts. Because it has long been stable and friendly, we have paid slight attention to Mexico's strategic significance. But we cannot afford to let Mexico become a failed state. We must support its efforts in ways that are acceptable to the Mexican political structure and take into account Mexican national sensitivities about its sovereignty.
The Bush administration began with the U.S.-Mérida initiative that is funding about $400 million annually for special weapons and technology, such as satellite surveillance, to monitor the drug routes into our country. We must accept a double responsibility here. We are the source of the drug cartels' guns—some 2,000 daily make their way across our border into Mexico daily—and we also are the source of their revenue from those here who buy drugs.
This is not just a Mexican matter. The drug gangs are described by the Justice Department as "the biggest organized crime threat to the U.S." Crimes connected to these cartels are spreading across the Southwest, especially in Phoenix, where most of murders and kidnappings are believed to be linked to the drug trade. The cartels are also increasing their relationship with prison and street gangs in the United States to facilitate drug trafficking, according to a congressional report. This cooperation enables the traffickers to excavate cross-border tunnels and install ramp-assisted smuggling roads over the border fence between the countries, in order to get their cargoes into the United States.
Mexico's efforts to wage a more effective war against these cartels is inhibited by the vast amounts of money the drug lords are able to pay politicians who protect them, private judges who will not convict them, and unregulated financial institutions that make big profits laundering the money.
This will be a long-term struggle. The problem of rooting out the domestic corruption that supports the cartels in Mexico is too large to be solved anytime soon. Mexico has begun the long struggle to develop an independent judiciary and a powerful and incorruptible police force to cope with the well-financed, burgeoning cartels. America cannot afford to take the risk of a continued deterioration in the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Mexican government.
- 1
- 2
- Next Page >
Reader Comments
Its All About The "Benjamins!"
Its been estimated that the the Black Market economy(profits from all illegal activities) is about the same has the legal, taxed economy! Is it any wonder that cartels and such have the inncentive to protect and expand their economy, much like any other business. All the money and laws in the world won't put much of a dent in their efforts to maintain their business, eventually pragmatism will have to rule and we will at least have to consider some legalization of at least some drugs taking the profit out of their business, putting taxes into our businesses (its been estimated that the tax revenues from legal drugs would cause our taxes to fall to 0%!) Everyone should take a visit to Amsterdam or some other places where drugs are legalized and see what could be! The Dutch seem to be handling their moral dilimma's quite well along with their low crime rate, high standard of living for all, low stress levels and low tax rates which seem to make it a great place to live!
Immigrants
You know I sit and I hear how everyone bad mouths the mexicans that have sacrificed their lives to come to this country.Some do send their money back to their country,but aren't we all liable for child support as well.Most of them that ship money there is because they have kids that they want to have an education.How can we dare be racist against Mexicans,Brazilians,and the other hispanic races here,but are not allowed to be racist against anyone that was born here.We all bleed red.They bust their asses every single day for crap pay and work 70+hrs a week for a check that they will never see the taxes from.They have children here,weather you want them to or not.So,you would rather have several hundred of children being raised with no father and when they ask where their father is tell them the truth,that he isn't allowed here because he is brown ? Really.Noone complains when your produce was cheaper,or your yard was cut for $5 or all the meat this country eats.Are you willing to butcher cows for $7.50hr.I highly doubt it.You want them here for your benefits,but give them nothing,including freedom,in return.This country is falling apart due to racism and selfish rich people whol are living it up while the poor suffer and starve.Land of the free....where ?
Legalize Marijuana? Read this, then think about it before you deicide
If you think about legalizing marijuana in these terms the logic might not seem so bad. Usually people are extremists, all for it or all against it with no compromise. But maybe a little compromise is what we need for both sides to be at least somewhat satisfied.
In the prohibition period booze once legalized ended the profits of many gangsters. Now we have legalized gambling, so only drugs are left. Now let's take booze for instance; There are so many strict laws about drinking it but still legal to buy it. People for booze are satisfied that they can buy it and people against it are satisfied of the strict laws to drink it. The same can be said about Cigarettes. If you outlawed either one then you've created another vehicle for criminals to profit on.
So now the Marijuana issue. Make it legalize it to buy but put strict laws on it's use just like booze and cigarettes. That way one side is satisfied that it's legalized and the other side is happy that there are strict laws on it's use.
If both sides compromised a bit we could solve the problem, then everyone would be happy that it is taken out of the hands of the drug dealers.
Now the issue of marijuana raising the crime rate. I don't think the crime rate could be any higher with it legalized than it is now with it being illegal. But take the City of Santa Cruz, California; Marijuana is as close to being legal as you can get and you can smoke it on the street without a hassle. Not because the Police look the other way but because the law prohibits them from doing much about it (look it up). And Santa Cruz is one of the nicest Cities around with a very low crime rate. I'm not claiming that the marijuana law lowered the crime rate but the fact is that it sure didn't raise it.
One might look at the benefits of legalizing marijuana as just theory, but if you concede that making booze legal was a positive move and that yesterdays booze is today's marijuana then it might not be such a theory, as the example of the low crime rate in Santa Cruz.
In conclusion, If one side would stop rehashing (no pun intended) on how the benefits of legalizing marijuana would bring in a lot of taxes and how it is more healthy than booze etc.. And if the other side would stop insisting that everyone will become dope addicts and the crime rate will go up if it legalized resulting in the worlds end, then maybe we could arrive at an acceptable compromise. Now I'm not saying both sides don't have valid points and theories, I'm just saying that this isn't about the old pro's and con's anymore, it's about something way more important and urgent, and that's taking another vehicle (maybe the last) away from the drug lords. But only the UN-extreme will give this any thought at all. But I hope at least some will just think about it. For the record, I do not smoke marijuana but I would like to see it legalized, for obvious reasons.
advertisement
