Mexican War And Drug Violence

Mexico is currently experiencing distorted violence caused by regional narcotic wars and global drug trafficking.

The epidemic of drug trafficking and violence has resulted in a war between Mexico’s government and the Narcos who instigate these acts of violence. There has been an ongoing fight between the Mexican Government and Narcos as far back as 2006. Before a fight erupted between the Mexican government and the Narcos, war brewed among several drug cartels. As violence and competition only made tension among drug cartel worse, violence began to be noted as a widely talked about phenomenon that swarmed the streets of Mexico city. This event is notoriously regarded as the Mexican War and Drug Violence.
Although the Mexican Government have
witnessed and experienced the destructive nature of these narcotic groups. They fail administer a forceful effort in trying to prevent the advancements of violence and drug-trafficking. Within two weeks of stepping into office in 2006, President Felipe Calderon deployed more than 7,000 militarized troops to combat against the drug cartels in the city of Michoacan. The cause of his actions were due to a massacre at a nightclub lead by an infamous drug cartel known as La Familia Michoacan. In 2008, members of La Familia Michoacana warned authorities of an attack on the day of Mexico’s Independence Day. This was disregarded by authorities causing the public to be unaware of the threat made. On September 16, 2008, at the capital of Morella, La Familia Michoacan launched grenades into the crowd, killing eight and injuring hundreds. On May 2009, one of Calderon’s biggest administration plan involved arresting ten mayors and eighteen officials who were supposedly alleged ties to organized crime with drug cartels. Due a lack of evidence against the suspects, this operation ended in an unsuccessful attempt to tie these politicians with drug cartels. Out of all of the politicians suspected of holding alleged ties with drug cartels, Julio Cesar Godoy was found to be the only politician that had affiliation with drug cartels. Before Julio Godoy was elected into the Mexican congress, the government ordered for his arrest for the alleged ties with La Familia Michoacan. Despite having affiliations with La Familia Michoacan, Julio Godoy was able to regain a position back in the Mexican Congress because of his relation to his half brother, Governor Godoy. On December 9 of 2010, President Calderon confirmed the death of leader chief Nazario, of La Familia Michoacana, when he had died in a shootout amongst other cartels. After the death of chief Nazario, Julio Godoy became the first Mexican legislator to be impeached because of his affiliation with La Familia Michoacan. After the Julio Cesar Godoy incidence, the mexican government corruption did not end. Several politicians provided bribes to their constituents for support and votes during election. These forms of incentives constructed a platform through which political corruption had the opportunity to flourish. In regards to governmental corruption, it is believed that corruption is the element that unified the Mexican political elites. Political power among officials in the Mexican government is strong in a sense that their power is supported by material benefits of incentives and blackmail which one official can use on another.
Despite the extent of corruption of Mexico’s government, the United States has played a large role in contributing to the rise in power of the narcotic groups in Mexico. Mexico is often regarded as the United State’s black market for drugs. The amount of money American’s have spent on illegal drugs is $109 billion. Heroin, cocaine, marijuana-- all of these drugs have been known to being smuggled over the Mexican border. America’s consumer demand for narcotic drugs and the constant flow of american guns into Mexico has empowered and armed the narcotic groups. The result of this is the drastic extent that the Mexican government is overpowered by the americanized weapons that these cartels are armed with. According to a report by the United States Government Accountability Office, more than 70,000 guns have been found to be recovered from crime scenes in Mexico between 2009 and 2014 which could be traced back to the United States. Currently, there are 2.5 million registered gun owners in Mexico yet it is believed that there are at least 13 million more who possess firearms illegally. (the atlantic). Mexican cartels gain these weapons through “straw man” purchases, which is a common method of access to these weapons where one individual buys the firearms with the intention of trafficking the weapons into Mexico.
The effects of corruption in the Mexican government has lead to a network of criminal activity among drug cartels and government officials.
The main reason of the increase of violence in many regions of Mexican territory is directly associated with gang confrontations and government authorities during mass trafficking of a variety of drugs, this including: marijuana, cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, and methamphetamine, which are smuggled into the United States from the border of Mexico and back. Cities close to the Mexican border, such as Chihuahua, Acapulco, Ciudad Victoria, and Ciudad Juarez experience some of the highest crime rates due to their location. Beheadings, disappearances, public killings and decapitations point to a rise in gruesome attacks. More than 160,000 people had died in drug-related violence since 2006 and the fast rate of increase has been unstoppable. This increase in violence also points to a level of instability among authorities not being able to manage territories where the most trafficking of drugs and weapons occur. On August, 2010, 72 migrants were found brutally murdered for refusing to work for narcotic groups. No less than four years later, 43 male college students went missing in Iguala, Mexico and have yet to be found. President Calderon’s orders on the mass execution of drug traffickers has only lead to mass explosion of violence between cartels, gangs, and the Mexican army. Nevertheless, the exposure of violence to the mexican public has
caused an increase in mexican mortality. The Mexican Drug and War Violence has not only significantly impacted the lives of several Mexican citizens, but fighting against the narcotic groups has cost Mexico an immense fortune and severely impacted Mexico’s economic prosperity.
For Mexico, fighting against narcotic groups costed them 172.7 billion dollars, Mexico’s efforts to reduce violence have been proven unsuccessful and is only increasing their government’s debt. Mexico, as compared to Syria, Iraq, and Libya, is among one of the least peaceful countries whose attempts to stop violence is only hurting their economy. With a debt of 73.5 billion, the amount of money Mexico exerts in trying to preserve peace is twice the amount of their economy’s debt (Estevez 2014). Ever since the presidency of Felipe Calderon, their economy has depleted as violence only rose. Due to the lack of improvements seen between Mexican authority and narcotic groups, addressing corruption would prove to be fruitless (Estevez 2014). More cities everyday are turning into war zones between Mexico’s government and narcotic
groups. There has yet to be any successful attempted solutions taken by the Mexican government against the narcotic groups. While the Obama Administration has set up a “dual containment” to secure the border between the United States and Mexico, this has proved to be unsuccessful due to the lack of authoritative force taken against the narcos in trying to reduce the illegal movement of guns and drugs and the bulk of money being sent into Mexico by the United States which only strengthen the cartel groups (Walser 2010).