Mexican Drug War

There is a war going on currently south of our border. While we Americans continue to plunge ourselves in countless never ending conflicts, we are ignoring our own ongoing war next door. Mexico, our neighboring country to the south has been waging a war for years that has seemed to have gone unnoticed. This war is between the Mexican government and the cartels that seem to run the country. Just like the USA has people that support its politicians, the same thing happens in Mexico with the cartels. These politicians seems to be acting as puppets of the cartels that do anything to secure their own safety, even if that means shifting the control of power over to the cartels. The cartels have in return, turned Mexico into a crime ridden, and poor
country that seeks stability. Worst of all it has destroyed the people's trust in the government and thrown their lives into chaos and made the people live under fear. The mexican cartels are a very real and scary power that has of recently taken over the government of Mexico.
The corrupt political system has allowed the group to control all the money going through the country. The cartels also traffic billions of dollars in drugs and weapons through Mexico, and cannot be disciplined for it because they rule the government (NY Times). Since the start of the drug war, the Mexican authorities have followed a kingpin strategy to stop the cartel. The strategy held that targeting the leadership of cartels would render the organizations ineffective, thereby limiting the group's danger. Unfortunately that tactic hasn't worked and the citizens are affected most. Thousands of Mexican citizens are killed every year in cartel related violence causing the people to fear the cartels who are essentially their leader. A group of people that fears its leader is not good, this fear is a reason why Mexico is one of the poorest countries in the world and has the third most murders in the
world. These people in Mexico are heavily affected by the cartels because the cartels could just walk in and kill everyone they know and love and leave with no repercussions at all. This fear causes chaos and widespread panic among all people in Mexico and results in the daily struggles and hardships these people share. Mexico has one of the largest percentage of poor citizens in the world at nearly 46% of the population (The Guardian). Their low wages allow the cartels to easily manipulate them for money to do their dirty work and in return, the police throw these citizens in prison for doing illegal activity when really it is the cartels doing. Since the government hasn’t been doing anything about the cartels, some people have taken a stand. Last February, many local farmers took a stand against the cartels. They formed self-defense groups, took up arms and started killing the cartel members. Within a few months, the freedom fighters were mounting large, military-style operations, setting up cordons around towns and villages, then sweeping through and raiding known gang hangouts (The Guardian). Some of these vigilantes are very well organized and have modern weapons, like AR-15s and Israeli assault rifles. This chain reaction of events has lead to Mexico having one of the most overpopulated prison systems in the world, and the worst part is, these people are not the ones who should be blamed and suffering in these prisons. It is the cartels. An estimated 100,000 Mexicans have been murdered since President Felipe Calderon started his war on drug trafficking in December of 2006 (Forbes).
The initial groups involved in this war were an estimated 6,500 Mexican military officers and four of the main Mexican cartels in Mexico, the Beltran Leyva cartel, the Gulf cartel, the Juarez cartel, and the Tijuana cartel(Forbes). Since then, those involved in the war have expanded to more than 50,000 soldiers, an estimated 35,000 federal police officers and eight different major drug cartels who themselves make up more than 100,000 foot soldiers(forbes).People are dying at a rapid rate and there is no accountability for their deaths and their won’t be until the cartels are held accountable for their horrible crimes against the citizens of
Mexico. As you can see the citizens of Mexico and in particular the poor citizens are being tortured, used to perform illegal acts, and killed by the Mexican cartels. The citizens seem to have no voice in the government as the leaders are all being bought out by the cartels, leaving the power of Mexico in their hands. The people of Mexico will continue to live in fear of the cartels and be oppressed until other countries can help intervene and return Mexico to its former glory.