The War Next Door Every day, thousands of legal crossings are made across the U. S. – Mexican border, otherwise known as one of the world’s busiest borders. Many goods and materials, as well as hundreds of people in search of a better life, cross the border legally. However, not everything and everyone being crossed is good and legal. Every year, an illegal trade is made making an estimated amount of tens of billions of dollars from drug traffickers who smuggle their products into the U. S.
These illegal trades are controlled by powerful Mexican drug groups, otherwise known as “cartels. ” For everal years now, Mexican cartels have caused huge amounts of deaths, smuggling, struggles to survive and even the good turning into the bad. Mexican Drug Wars Known as one of the world’s busiest borders, the U. S. – Mexican border consist of hundreds of thousands of legal trips back and forth each day. However, along with these many legal crosses, comes an estimated amount worth tens of billions of dollars of illegal crossings per year.
Drug trafficking, controlled by powerful Mexican drug cartels, smuggle products into the U. S. from Mexico, and the money flows from the U. S. into Mexico. For several years now, these cartels have caused massive destruction and misery by fghting each other and even Mexican authorities. Ciudad, Juarez has become the most violent city along the Mexico-U. S. border. About 300,000 people have migrated from Juarez to El Paso, Texas in search for a better life for many of Mexico’s citizens have lost hope for a change.
The violence only continues to get worse even after the month of December 2006 when Mexican President, Felipe decrease the amount of violence in Juarez. However, this action only made the violence worse for now those military officials which are supposed to be protecting he innocent, are the ones who are killing them. During the 1980s, a man named Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo had control over a large portion of the drug trade from his base in Tijuana, Mexico. In 1989, he was arrested for accusation of the murder of the DEA agent Camarena in 1985.
After Gallardo was arrested, his empire of drug traffickers began to separate into their own divisions. The separation led to battles for control over fine drug routes between three of the biggest cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and the Juarez Cartel as well as other conflicts with the Tijuana Cartel. The level of violence in Mexico has reached such a drastic amount that it is now considered an outright war. The drug cartels battle against each other for control of areas, mainly the northern cities along the U. S. border, which are easier access point to the U.
S. drug market. The violence is so out of hand that brutal murders, assassinations of government officials, police and soldiers and kidnappings have become highly common. Some cartels have reached such high level of power that they are Just as well-armed as government forces they fight against. The number of murders occurring in Mexico is drastic, but the even worse part is the rutal ways in which these people are being murdered. Drug traffickers have access to use high-powered weapons and even powerful grenades causing huge amounts of damage and deaths.
Many of the bodies found dead have shown evidence of being brutally tortured before being murdered. Some victims have been beheaded or been decapitated of many different body parts. The worst murders have given signs to being purposely designed to threaten other cartels and even the government. The U. S. has tried to assist Mexico in their battle against the cartels through the Merida Initiative, a security-related aid package. However, the Mexican government has said that the attempt to help is not good enough for Mexico to maintain the control of the cartels.
It is also said that the lax gun laws of the U. S. allows the drug traffickers easy access to purchase weapons and smuggle them back into Mexico which is a major help to the cartels when fighting there battles. In addition, the demand for drugs by American’s has encouraged the violence in Mexico and the Mexican government complains that the U. S should do more to stop its citizen’s demand for drugs. In April 2009, America’s President Obama visited Mexico to discuss issues with Mexico’s President Calderon.
Obama complied to provide $700 million dollars in aid, most of it dealing with military and security, under the Merida Initiative. Obama also pledged to endorse an international treaty which would improve gun tracking across the borders. Although the violence related to the Mexican drug wars is indeed located in Mexico itself, there are many worries that the violence is capable of spreading into the U. S. cities along the U. S. -Mexico border. Law enforcement officials have estimated that Mexican drug cartels have already made way into 230 U. S. cities in tates reaching as far as north near Alaska.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, the cartels have become “the greatest organized crime threat to the United States. ” In addition, several recent crimes committed in different areas of the U. S. are suspected to be related to the Mexican drug trafficking. There have been kidnappings in Arizona, a group of five men found dead in Birmingham, Alabama, traffickers are suspected to live close by. According to the U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, the war on drugs happening in Mexico “is not a failure. She believes that the drug policies of the U.
S. and Mexico are good ways of trying to prevent people from becoming addicted to drugs. Therefore, they should not drop these laws in order to end the wars. Napolitano also stated that it is only a matter of time until Mexico’s most powerful leader, Joaquin “El Chapd’ Guzman falls out of power. With the war going on, drugs such as marijuana should not be legalized and at some point this mess will start to slowly go away. On March 23, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI landed in Mexico in attempt to spread prayer to all who are suffering because of the Mexican drug war violence.
In front of a large crowd, Pope Benedict emphasized that the cause of Mexico’s violence was greed. With his brief visit, the Pope hoped to leave a message that will hopefully touch many of Mexico’s citizen’s hearts and make a change in the society. For several years now, the Mexican cartels have caused huge amounts of violence that is really unnecessary. Every year, thousands of innocent people lose their lives because of violence they have no control over and even those who are supposed to have control over it, are either doing nothing or only contributing to the violence.
Citizens of Mexico are becoming more addicted to drugs and more careless about breaking laws. Some citizens are becoming more terrified and hopeless with life. Unfortunately to those citizens there seems to be no stop to the violence coming anytime soon. References “Mexican Drug Trafficking (Mexico’s Drug War). ” Moved Permanently. 22 Mar. 2012. Web. 19 Retrieved November 10, 2013 “Mexican Drug Wars. ” Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 22 May 2009 Retrieved November 10, 2013.. Book ” Mexico’s Drug War” By. Greenhaven Page 106. (10-26)
