The Mexican Drugwar
The Mexican Drug War
“ NO LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL”
TERM PAPER
Kevin Auerswald
Student ID 4848835
Bradford W. Carey
Professional English C1
International Business Administration
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
A war has been raging in Mexico’s border towns for nearly a decade as rival drug cartels battle for regional control and the smuggling routes to America. However, the Mexican government has declared its own war on the ruthless drug barons. Since Felipe Calderón took office in 2006, violence seemed to have run out of control as the only result from Mexico’s military interventions appears to be an escalation of the killings. Drug trafficking organizations have killed police forces, engaged in kidnappings and ransom, slaughtered their rivals and increasingly claimed the lives of innocent civilians. So far the total death toll soars slightly above a shattering 50.000 murders(1).
Although drug violence had been occurring since the 1980’s, the Mexican government held a generally passive stance towards cartels. That, however, changed with newly elected President Felipe Calderon, who vowed to relentlessly crack down on high profile drug kingpins. Calderon continued to escalate his striking anti-drug campaign throughout his presidential term. As of 2011, Mexican authorities and military forces have captured over 12.000 individuals who were suspected of being involved with cartels. Meanwhile the conflict began to spread to U.S. Border States, and therefore poses the greatest organized crime threat to the United States, according to the Justice Department. By now, cartels have infiltrated more than 200 major cities across the U.S. while American gangs increasingly act as enforcers for Mexican drug cartels. Mexico affects the United States unlike any other country, which is why Mexico’s state officials stressed that illegal drug trafficking is a shared problem not confined to national borders at all. This inevitably leads to the
“ NO LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL”
TERM PAPER
Kevin Auerswald
Student ID 4848835
Bradford W. Carey
Professional English C1
International Business Administration
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
A war has been raging in Mexico’s border towns for nearly a decade as rival drug cartels battle for regional control and the smuggling routes to America. However, the Mexican government has declared its own war on the ruthless drug barons. Since Felipe Calderón took office in 2006, violence seemed to have run out of control as the only result from Mexico’s military interventions appears to be an escalation of the killings. Drug trafficking organizations have killed police forces, engaged in kidnappings and ransom, slaughtered their rivals and increasingly claimed the lives of innocent civilians. So far the total death toll soars slightly above a shattering 50.000 murders(1).
Although drug violence had been occurring since the 1980’s, the Mexican government held a generally passive stance towards cartels. That, however, changed with newly elected President Felipe Calderon, who vowed to relentlessly crack down on high profile drug kingpins. Calderon continued to escalate his striking anti-drug campaign throughout his presidential term. As of 2011, Mexican authorities and military forces have captured over 12.000 individuals who were suspected of being involved with cartels. Meanwhile the conflict began to spread to U.S. Border States, and therefore poses the greatest organized crime threat to the United States, according to the Justice Department. By now, cartels have infiltrated more than 200 major cities across the U.S. while American gangs increasingly act as enforcers for Mexican drug cartels. Mexico affects the United States unlike any other country, which is why Mexico’s state officials stressed that illegal drug trafficking is a shared problem not confined to national borders at all. This inevitably leads to the
References: (1) www.articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/25/news/la-trb-mexico-before-and-after-calderns-war-20120823 (2) www.articles.cnn.com/2009-03-25/politics/clinton.mexico_1_drug-violence-drug-syndicates-drug-war?_s=PM:POLITICS (3) www.edrugrehab.com/the-source-where-drugs-come-from (4) www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1821697,00.html (5) www. online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303425504577353852663443304.html www.topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/mexico www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/special/mexico-drug-war-timeline/index.html www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics www. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War www. borderviolenceanalysis.typepad.com/mexicos_drug_war