Introduction
The Mexican drug war is an on-going struggle between drug-war lords and the central government over usage and trafficking of drugs. Significant conflicts have also been reported among rival cartels for the control of regions and domination of the business.
The war began in 2006, and continues to date with thousands of civilians reported to have lost their lives in the ruthless struggle. The war has gained little attention from the international community, hence little assistance to the central government.
An in-depth analysis of the nature of the war reveals a problem in its continued climax, with no indications of a near end. It will require the help of regional states and the international community at large to bring significant impact in the war and a possible end to the conflict.
Problem Statement
Today’s world is a world marred with violence of all sorts and nature. Terrorism and hate crimes seem to have captured the world’s attention so that no one seems to care about the drug wars in Mexico and the thousands of lives they claim every year.
In the year 2010, over fifteen thousand innocent lives were lost through such drug wars and millions of dollars were paid in ransom for drug related activities. School-age children have been enticed into the business, leaving a poorly developed job market for ‘straight’ business in the country. Millions of innocent loyal citizens continue to suffer in silence through the menacing drug wars.
Purpose of Research
The purpose of this research is to unearth the extent of damage done by the drug wars in Mexico both politically, socially, and economically. We shall review how the wars have affected the lucrative tourism industry in the country, and recommend possible solutions to the un-ending threat of the drug wars.
Methodology
Information used in this research is extracted from secondary sources on similar studies previously done on this topic. These include internet sources, journal articles, interviews on you tube, and books.
Literature Review
The Drug War: A History
The Mexican drug trafficking business began many years ago. Before the 1990s, Colombia’s Cali and Medell’n cartels dominated drug business in the region. With their demise in the 1990s, Mexican cartels became powerful and took total control over the business. The cartels now dominate the wholesale drug market in the United States and other countries in Europe and Asia (Carpenter, 2010).
Mexico is strategically located linking the United States, Canada and countries in South America with other parts of the world. Besides, the country had long established drug links with the former leading drug trafficking country of Colombia.
With proliferated efforts to clear drug trafficking in Colombia, existing cartels joined up with those in Mexico, elevating them to current drug leaders in the world. On top of this, Mexico is a leading producer heroin and cannabis, among the leading drugs in the drug business.
Early Mexican traffickers were paid in cash for their services. This changed, however, in the late 1980s when they agreed with the Colombian suppliers to be given a certain percentage of the drugs they trafficked.
Mexican cartels thus became distributors and traffickers of the drugs, increasing their involvement in the business. The business has been supported by a succession of power through regulated channels among the cartels. The cartels use the law enforcement agents against rival cartels through bribes and leaking information on their activities to the police (Kleiman, 2011)
Origin of the Escalating Violence
The violence in the county is as a result of a number of reasons. One major factor is the long association between the drug traffickers and the government of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which lost its hold on political power in the late 1980s.
These two have existed by negotiating agreements of assistance and cooperation, which have seen the drug business increase over the recent years.
The Presidency of Felipe Calderon
Violence between drug cartels was common over the 1980s to the 1990s. The government often maintained a low profile over such conflicts, letting them solve the conflicts on their own. This was largely because the police were usually compromised by various cartels, therefore, could not act authoritatively.
This changed in 2006 with the election of Felipe Calderon as the country’s president. He ordered federal troops to the quell drug violence in the state of Michoacán, the famous operation Michoacán.
This sparked the continued war between the government and the cartels that has involved over 45,000 troops of both the federal and state government. It is reported that by the year 2010, the cartels had been attempting to impose their own government and laws.
Cause of Involvement in Drugs
Over two decades ago, Mexico adopted a free economy that was characterized by free trade and cheap labor. The increasing numbers of factories drew workers from all over the country.
Labor was readily available because of poverty and lack of free universal education to cater for the growing youth majority. Poverty and poor wages, coupled with poor government polices in education are the main contributors to high rates of youth involvement in drugs (Gonzalez, 2011)
Mexico has been ruled by authoritarian rulers, condoned machismo, and has a weak civil population who cannot do much about the compromised rule of law in the country. Government efforts to interdict and eradicate the drug business and supply do not address these root causes, thus the heavy resistance from the cartels.
Cause of the Wars
The drug war is fought majorly on two fronts. One is the cartels fighting amongst themselves, and the conflict between the cartels and government troops. The cartels fight among themselves over regional control and domination over other cartels.
There are nearly eight major rival cartels in the country. These cartels include Sanaloa cartel, Gulf cartel, Juarez cartel, Knights Templar cartel, Tijuana cartel, La Familia cartel, Los Zetas cartel, and the now disbanded Beltran Leyva Cartel. The cartels exist in perpetual rivalry against one another.
The second cause of the wars is the government, through the federal and state troops’ attempts to combat the business and bring to an end all drug-related activities. Besides combating the business, the government is tasked with ending conflict and war among the cartels, which claim hundreds of lives each day.
In an effort to clear the drug business, the government troops aim at dismantling the cartels themselves rather than the mere control of trafficking, a responsibility they have left to the United States’ troops assisting in the country.
These wraps have been aggravated by the global economic recession that drove the cartels into desperation to protect their businesses from competitions and the overreaching arm of the government. These led to more violence and aggression as witnessed in the recent past.
Worst affected Places
The five year old war is mainly concentrated in the Mexican states and towns of Baja California, Durango, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Michoacán, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Veracruz, Coahuila, Jalisco, San Luis Potosi, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, Morelos, and Sonora. According to Moore (2011), these areas are largely avoided, and tourists are advised to avoid the places.
Impact of the Wars
While the war in Mexico has brought a lot of wealth to those involved, it has equally bought untold suffering on the innocent, loyal civilians often caught up in the wrangles.
- Deaths
Official reports indicate that since the war began in 2006, thousands of civilians, cartel members, and government troops have lost their lives through the wars.
Over a thousand police officers and prosecutors have lost their lives. 138 army officers and 14 Marine Corps, 318 federal police officers, 58 media reporters, and 1000 children are estimated to have been killed in the war. On the side of the cartels and gang members, 121,199 members have been killed by both the police and other rival cartels, and 8,500 convicted through lawful trials (O’Neil, 2009).
Annual figures indicate that 62 people were killed in 2006, 2,873 in 2007, 6, 844 in 2008, 9,635 in 2009, 15,272 in 2010, and a record breaking of 16,466 in 2011.
The numbers seem to maintain an upward annual trend, with the number estimated to increase in 2012. Besides, deaths, over 10,000 persons have disappeared and 1.6 million displaced over drug-related violence and crimes.
One example of innocent kidnapping is the case of Trinidad de la Cruz. The peasant activist was captured by armed men and found later dead of bullet wounds. Fellow activists cited fears over their own safety as they raised their voices to detest the drug business that was responsible for the deplorable state of their country, and the government’s inability to guarantee them safety.
A catholic nun, Sister Consuelo Morales, is yet another activist in defending the human rights of the violence’s innocent victims. She has received all sorts of threats, with some leaving dead cats in her office as a threat.
Her fight is for mothers and families who have lost their sons to the cartels, and some who have lost their lives to drug-use. She leads others in marches to government officials to claim their constitutional rights of protection.
- Trade
The drugs offer the cartels and associated bodies such as banks lucrative business ventures. Their biggest market share is the US population, while the US banks along the Mexican-US border service the transactions. The border has been marked as the busiest in the world, a clear indication of the active transaction in the country with the US (Payan, 2006)
- Tourism
Although the war seems to have escalated in the recent past, some areas are still relatively safe for tourists. Despite the increased violence, statistics show that the number of tourists into the country increased in the year 2010 and 2011. Most violence is restricted to the states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa.
Other states such as Baja California and Quintana Roo remain relatively calm and have continued to receive tourists (Reynolds, 2010).
Overall travel also increased by 17.8% in 2010, indicating a continued increase over the subsequent years.
- Travel Advisories
In 2010, the US State Department issued a travel advisory to its citizens. The department outlined variations in violence and drug prevalence of various states, and advising them not to frequent the highly risky places.
For those visiting the places, the department advised them to conceal their jewelry, traveling during the day, staying in common tourist areas, and avoiding suspicious cabs.
Is Mexico a Failed State?
Many of the county’s cities have been described as mini-failed states, despite the current seemingly strong central government. Cities and towns near the border with the US are way out of control by the central government, and rather governed by the cartels.
Mayors and local authorities serve for single terms and are not able to implement governmental policies due to dominance by the cartels. According to (Linday, 2011), the taxing process is weak, many a times unable to tax the cartels’ businesses.
To a large extent, the authorities are more compromised than genuinely unable to implement legislations. The towns are known for high ranking corruption of government officials by the cartels to let them free.
Because of the income from the business, cartels are very wealthy and powerful, beating the government in the amount of resources to fight them. This has made the government unable to effectively fight off the drug business.
The cartels have also been reported to have links with top ranking government officials and military officials, who they use to fight their wars against the government. In the city of Juarez, for instance, the mayor has fired up to 2000 police officers and other government officials.
Such a mayor, however, and other officials with similar tough measures do not last long in service. They are either fired by compromised senior officials, or threatened or killed by the cartels. Such was the case of a former police chief who had to resign due to threats from the cartels (Tagle, 2008).
The legal institutions and the general rule of law are weak in the country. Cases of impunity and compromise of the judiciary are quite common in the country, making it difficult to bring to justice the drug lords. The country’s failure to combat massive poverty among its citizens, especially the youth demeans efforts to clear the drug menace.
Because of all these factors, it is true to claim that the country is on its way to becoming a failed state. The war is escalating, with the number of victims increasing each year. Government efforts are meager compared with the resistance encountered (Zamora, 2003).
Conclusion
The drug-war in Mexico is a conflict that began with the conception of the country. With the demise of Colombian cartels, Mexican cartels took over, developing the business to become the most active trade in the country.
Efforts by the government to clear out the cartels have often failed because of the powerful nature of the cartels and the weak state of the government. Besides, most government officials are compromised by the cartels, paralyzing government efforts in fighting the trade. With annual deaths from the war in an upward trade, and the weak state of the government, we are yet to anticipate liberation of the country from the murky drug-business.
Recommendations
Mexico is not a super power, neither is it in the first world. This means that it is largely incapacitated in its efforts to fight off the drug menace. Besides, the country is in a perfect strategic position for the drug business. It will, therefore, need the consolidated efforts of the international community to quell the violence and curb the drug business.
While doing this, the country needs to recognize that the root cause of the drug business is the country’s poor economy and political situation. It, therefore, needs to build more schools and make education free and accessible to all. Economic interventions, which will provide employment for the massive unemployed youth, will then have to be taken.
Reference List
Carpenter, A. C. (2010). Beyond Drug Wars: Transforming Factional Conflict in Mexico. Journal of Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Vol. 27(4): 401-413.
Gonzalez, F. (2011). Drug Violence isn’t Mexico’s Only Problem. Journal of Current History, Vol. 110(733): 68-74.
Kleiman, M. (2011). Surgical Strikes in the Drug War. Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90(5): 89-100.
Linday, J. D. (2011). The Drug Wars Impact on Executive Power, Judicial Reform, and Federalism in Mexico. Journal of Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 126(2): 177-200.
Moore, G. (2011). No Man’s Land: The Mystery of Mexico Drug Wars. Journal of World Affairs, Vol. 173(5): 51-64.
O’Neil, S. (2009). The Real War in Mexico. Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol. 88(4): 63-77.
Payan, T. (2006). The Drug War and the US-Mexico Border: The State of Affairs. Journal of South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. 105(4): 863-880.
Reynolds, C. (2010, December 26). How Mexico’s Drug War Affects Tourism. The Los Angeles Times,
Tagle, S. G. (2008). Elections in Mexico: What’s the Point? NACLA Report on Americas, 10714839, Vol 41(5).
Zamora, J. A. (2003). “Criminal Justice and the Law in Mexico”. Journal of Crime, Law, and Social Change, Vol. 40(1): 33-36.