Every day the U.S. border patrol has to constantly keep an eye out for the smuggling of drugs by Mexican Cartels. There has been much violence due to this drug problem that has left many people near the border killed and is allowing more criminals to obtain these weapons. A lot of this attention goes to the U.S. because many of the weapons utilized in the “drug war” are U.S. made and is interfering with trading relations amongst both the U.S. and Mexico. With this current violent situation in Mexico this has transformed the flow of weapons to an even larger scale.
During the mid-2000’s former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon announced his war on the cartels and led to a crackdown against these organizations, along with assistance with the U.S. Ever since then over 40,000 people have been killed due to this violence which has been taking place near the U.S. Mexico border. Even though the United States has invested its funds to counter the drug trafficking, it’s been preoccupied on its border policies and targeting drug users on the main land. This has made it difficult for Mexico to catch these drug lords and many have argued that the war on drugs is unsuccessful and there needs to be a new way to attack this problem.
Drug cartels have long existed decades before the rising influence of the Mexican Cartels, starting in Colombia, but with the demise of the Colombian cartels in the 1990s. Mexicans since then have taken over the drug trafficking market and control a majority of the market that enters the United States. Due to the increasing drug lords being captured, violence has increased throughout the Mexican border within the areas of Tijuana. This increase in violence has cartels trying to gain control of their trading rout...
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Works Cited
• Beittel S, June. Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Violence. Congressional Research Service. Washington: GPO, 2008. Print.
• U.S. Senate, Committee on Crime and Drugs, Committee on the Judiciary, and Senate Caucus on International Narcotics. Law Enforcement Responses to Mexican Drug Cartels, Hearing, March 17, 2009. (Serial J-111-12) Washington: Government Printing Office, 2009.
• Rawlins, Aimee. "Mexico's Drug War." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
• Tobin Hansen, “Extreme Violence and Narco-terrorism in Mexico,” Borderland Beat, September 14, 2012, available at: http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2009/04/test.html
• Guevara, America Y. "Propaganda in Mexico’s Drug War." Journal of Strategic Security 6, no. 3 Suppl. (2013): 131-151.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduria General de la Republica, PGR) had issued information related to the conformation of the seven principal drug cartels present at Mexico:
Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bDEDBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA196&dq=mexican+drug+cartels&ots=8goVXKwGf_&sig=UkmUGWh_lIrl9krS6hWNRCtzjoQ#v=onepage&q=mexican%20drug%20cartels&f=false "Drug Trade and Trafficking." Teen Health and Wellness, Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. June 2015. Accessed March 21, 2018. http://teenhealthandwellness.com/article/134/drug-trade-and-trafficking.
A drug cartel is a combination of drug manufacturing and drug transportation organizations under one person’s leadership. While there is numerous drug cartels around the world the Mexican cartels have arguably more power than most in regards to territory and membership. This power has allowed them to have main control in not only Mexico but in the United States as well making them a key player in the drug trade. In 2006, the Mexican government challenged multiple drug cartels such as the Sinaloa cartel, The Los Zetas, and the Gulf cartel, beginning the Mexican Drug War. This war has gone on for the past ten years and is still continuing today, causing the death of 10,000 people a year on average. The Mexican Drug War is having a negative impact
Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that they overthrew the Mexican government.
Over the last several decades, violence has consumed and transformed Mexico. Since the rise of dozens of Mexican cartels, the Mexican government has constantly been fighting an ongoing war with these criminal organizations. The cartel organizations have a primary purpose of managing and controlling illegal drug trafficking operations in Central America and South America to the United States. Violence on a massive and brutal scale has emerged due to the nature of the illegal drug trade. Because the drug trade is vastly widespread, cartels are often fighting one another and competing in business. Mexican authorities count at least 12 major cartels, but also talk of an untold numbers of smaller splinter groups. (Taipei Times). Five cartels from Mexico have risen to become the extremely powerful amongst all the drug organizations operating in Mexico. The Guadalajara Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel. These organizations, along with other distinguished Mexican cartels, have plagued Mexico with violence, terror, and fear due to the essence and nature of illegal drug trafficking.
n.p., 25 Sep. 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. Corcoran, Katherine. “Mexico’s Drug War Strategy Remains Unchanged With New Government.”
The Global Commission on Drug Policy (2011). War on Drugs Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy June 2011. Retrieved from http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/themes/gcdp_v1/pdf/Global_Commission_Report_English.pdf
Drug trafficking has been a massive concern between the borders of Mexico and the U.S. “since mid 1970s” (Wyler, 1). Drug trafficking is “knowingly being in possession, manufacturing, selling, purchasing, or delivering an illegal, controlled substance” (LaMance, 1). A dynamic relationship exists amongst Columbia, Mexico, and the U.S. the informal drug trafficking economy. This growing informal drug economy leads to many individuals creating a substantial living through this undercover market. These individual drug cartels monopolizing the trafficking market are a growing problem for the U.S economy and need to be located and controlled. If this trafficking continues, the U.S. informal economy will crush the growth of legal industries. The trafficking and abuse of drugs in the U.S. affects nearly all aspects of consumer life. Drug trafficking remains a growing issue and concern to the U.S. government. The U.S. border control must find a way to work with Mexico to overpower the individuals who contribute to the drug trafficking business. This market must be seized and these individuals must be stopped.
Mexican drug cartels rise to dominance. THE WEEK Publications, 25 January 2014. Web. The Web. The Web.
Bruneau,C.,(2005, May).The Maras and national security in Central America. Strategic insights (5). Retrieved from http://www.nps.edu/academics/centers/publications/onlinejournal/2005/may/bruneaumay05.html
Since it’s beginning, the war on drugs has been a series of lost battles. Failed expectations in Panama, Colombia and Bolivia provide glaring examples.
Over the last decade, Southwest border violence has elevated into a national security concern. Much of the violence appears to stem from the competing growth and distribution networks that many powerful Mexican drug cartels exercise today. The unfortunate byproduct of this criminality reaches many citizens of the Mexican border communities in the form of indiscriminate street gang shootings, stabbings, and hangings which equated to approximately 6,500 deaths in 2009 alone (AllGov, 2012). That same danger which now extends across the border regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California has the potential for alarming escalation. Yet, despite the violence, evermore-brazen behavior continues to grow, as does America’s appetite for drugs. Even though drug-related violence mandates that law enforcement agencies focus on supply reduction, the Office of National Drug Control Policy should shift its present policy formulation efforts to only drug demand reduction because treatment and prevention efforts are inadequate and strategy has evolved little over the last three decades.
Beith, Malcolm. (2013, September 24). The current state of Mexico's many drug cartels. CTC Sentinal
The Mexican-American border barriers were originally built as part of a three-pronged approach to diminish illicit contraband, drug smuggling, and illegal immigrants. This operation would curtail drug transport routes from Central America. Three headquarters were established along the Unites States border: operation gatekeeper in California, Operation Hold-the-Line in Texas, and Operation Safeguard in Arizona. These strategically placed headquarters have done an outstanding job securing our borders the past decade, however with drug smuggling on the rise, they require much more support from the government. Regrettably, adversaries of the barriers claim that they are more of a political gambit to instigate foreign affairs and a complete waste of taxpayers’ money. These opponents see the United States-Mexico barrier as an unsuccessful deterrent to illegal immigrants and unwanted drugs that ultimately and inaptly endangers the security and wellbeing of immigrants seeking refuge in the States.
The "War on Drugs" Palo Alto: Mayfield, 1986. Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron, eds. The Bedford Reader. 6th ed. of the book.