Mexican Terrorism Research Paper

Terrorism. What is it? Can anyone define it? Is terrorism when someone hits two buildings with airplanes to kill thousands? Or is it when someone smuggles drugs to a country. Could terrorism be violence or just causing harm to people in some way? Terrorism is defined in so many ways. The United States today is so much more involved with fighting the war on terrorism in far away countries like Afghanistan, then looking at the threat that is lying along the United States border. The violence at the Mexico border is terrorism. It is not only terrorism to Mexico but terrorism to the United States as well. So many people have been terrorized by the violence that lies along the border of the United States and Mexico. The violence is stemming from the Mexico drug cartel’s who are smuggling drugs into the United States. There are not only
innocent people being killed but there is also the members of the cartels that are being killed over the selling and smuggling of the drugs to the United States. There are also police officers, soldiers and most shockingly news reporters that are being murdered (Carpenter, T G (02/2/2009). Terrorism is seen in many different ways. For example, in the Germany Holocaust, innocent people were killed because they were or thought to be Jewish. There were thousands of innocent people killed by one man who was attempting to gain control over a government. He used violence and chaos to eventually become president of Germany. How Hitler has so many innocent people killed is an act of terrorism (http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0403a.asp). The killings of innocent people who are attempting to protect themselves from the cross fires of the Mexican Cartel’s are no different than the Jewish community attempting to hide from Hitler and his men. With all the people getting killed, whether it is a drug cartel member, an officer of the law, or an innocent family hiding from the gunfire, it is terrorism. It is terrorism because it is a group of individuals attempting to gain power by killing. The Mexico drug trade is estimated as a twelve billion dollar business a year.
It is said that Mexico gets their cocaine from Columbia and also has its own operations of marijuana and heroin.( War without end. (2004). In 2006 alone the United States seized 2,238,075 pounds of marijuana at the border of Mexico (Katel, P. (2008, December 12).The Mexico cartels are killing each other in brutal ways because they are fighting over areas along the border that are called “smuggling routes”. These routes are used to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the United States. (Carpenter, T G (02/2/2009). By the Mexico cartels getting the drugs into the United States and distributing them to the United States citizens that is terrorism. It is terrorism because it is causing harm to people and governing people who are addicted to these drugs. When a person is addicted to drugs they either have the mentality to stay addicted or get help off the drug. When a person is addicted to a drug and does not want the help to get off, they then contribute to the terrorism of the Mexico cartels by needing the cartels to transport the drugs into the United
States. Would that consider Americans terrorists too? Are they terrorists because they are supporting or supplying the Mexican Cartel’s with the funding or addictions needed to run a successful drug business? In many ways it is terrorism. Think of a terrorist group as a successful business. A successful business needs to sell its product to grow. The more products it sells the more it can grow. By the cartel’s selling their drugs to the American people, the American’s are supporting terrorism. They are also supporting terrorism by selling the cartel’s the guns they use to do there terroristic acts of violence (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/us/26borders.html). But Americans are not the only ones who buy drugs from the Mexican Cartel’s. Terrorism is defined as “a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government” and it can also be defined as “violent and intimidating gang activity” from the web site Dictionary.reference.com. The Mexico cartels demonstrate both of those definitions. By being violent and intimidating gangs and having violent and intimidating activities. They also resist the government by continuing the violence and smuggling. The only way to stop the terrorism in Mexico would be to dismantle all cartels or close and secure borders. The Mexico drug war is stated as “the war without end” by an article called War without end. As long as drugs are being produced and smuggled there will always be terrorism at the Mexico border.