Mexico's drug war:
14 March 2009
Mexico's drug cartels are locked in a violent fight with Mexican troops for control of trafficking routes into the United States. And drug related violence in Mexico, is already at unprecedented levels and is expected to escalate further this year.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of federal troops in an aggressive crackdown on drug related violence. Yet death tolls continue to rise. There were more than 2,500 drug related deaths in 2007, and the yearly toll rose to more than 4,000 by the end of 2008. Murders and street gun battles are only part of a more entrenched problem that includes corrupt police forces and a lackluster judiciary.
As the war against cartels escalates in 2009, so will the threats, particularly against USA officials and other Americans, USA intelligence official based along the Texas border warned yesterday.
About 90 percent of the cocaine that enters the United States is trafficked through Mexico, according to the State Department's 2008 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Mexico's extensive cocaine trade is controlled by cartels based in border areas and along the southeast coast. Three groups the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and the Tijuana Cartel have waged an increasingly violent war over key trafficking routes and border crossing areas.
Already, the violence is crippling regions and cities, some of them on the border with Texas. Some USA officials and analysts describe these cities, including Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, as "failed cities," in which cartels, not city or police officials, have control. Ciudad Juarez, whose mayor and other elected officials have moved to El Paso in recent months and commute to Juarez, ended the year with more than 1,600 drug related killings. Nationwide, more than 5,700 criminals, soldiers, police, journalists and bystanders were killed. That's more than twice the estimated 2,300 slain in 2007.
While the military offensive has captured public and media attention, the Mexican government is pursuing other counterdrug initiatives, including.
(1) Extraditions. In 2007, Mexico extradited eighty three alleged criminals to the United States, included the head of the Gulf Cartel. This marks a significant increase over the sixty-three extraditions in 2006, according to the Congressional Research Service.
(2) Eradication and interdiction. Mexico has intensified its efforts to eradicate marijuana, dismantle labs for making illegal methamphetamine, and interdict cocaine shipments. The International Narcotics Control notes, however, that overall marijuana and opium poppy eradication decreased in 2007, as aerial eradication responsibilities shifted from the attorney general's office to the military. In 2007, Mexico dismantled some twenty six meth labs up from ten in 2002.
(3) Combining federal security forces. President Calderon spearheaded a 2008 constitutional reform that will merge the Federal Preventive Police, a civil force under the public security ministry, and the Federal Agency of Investigation, currently part of the attorney general's office. AFI agents perform intelligence gathering, similar to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. The PFP is responsible for maintaining public order; it does not currently have investigative abilities.
(4) Public security reforms. President Calderon proposed a package of public security reforms to Mexico's Congress in September 2008, including the creation of a national criminal database and a department to oversee coordination among police forces and anti corruption efforts. The focus on tracking flows of information, money, and people is important.
(5) Judicial reforms. In June 2008, Congress passed a series of constitutional reforms that overhaul criminal procedures in Mexico. The reforms include oral trials with public proceedings, sentencing based on the evidence presented during trial, and the creation of a group of judges that can rule quickly on requests for search warrants. Prior to these reforms, Mexico used a written trial procedure that could drag on for years.
Of immediate concern to both Mexican and USA officials is an increasingly skeptical Mexican public, whose support is essential. While President Calder,n's strategy has succeeded in disrupting the cartels, Mexicans are alarmed that their country's security situation has continued to unravel.
The violence has become a serious foreign policy issue as Mexican President Felipe Calderon's administration has cracked down on the drug cartels and been met with strong resistance.
President Barack Obama was briefed Saturday by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen about Mexico's drug wars and military officials say Mr Obama is interested in exploring military capabilities that the USA has that could help Mexican forces.
Help might come from the National Guard or even the Army if the deadly threat from Mexico's powerful cartels gets so bad that Homeland Security officials cannot secure border towns.
The United States and Mexico border violence can only be solved if we look at all parts of the equation," Rep. John F. Tierney said. "Let's examine our gun laws, let's cut down on USA drug consumption, let's ask there to be more resources to root out money laundering. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Tierney said, 90% of the weapons seized from Mexican organized crime came from the USA.
The gun laws in USA border states have a loophole allowing individuals to purchase weapons without a background check. As a result, the weapons trade along the border is very lucrative. And these very gun laws are adding fuel to the fire.
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