America & The Mexican Drug War

In the past decade, over 4000 American soldiers have died while serving in Iraq, and over 1000 in Afganistan (ICasualties: Operation Iraqi, 2009). In addition, both these wars have cost our country over one trillion dollars (National Priorities Project, 2010).Despite the great toll these wars have taken on our country, we have been told that they will protect our national security and keep citizens safe. While the security these wars has created is debatable, the U.S. has been much more reluctant to respond to another threat right on the U.S. border. The Mexican Drug war has already claimed the lives of thousands of people including a number of Americans and continues to devastate many small towns throughout Mexico. To ensure the safety of American and Mexican citizens, the U.S. Government needs to drastically increase their role in the Mexican Drug War.

The issue of illegal drug cartels is no new issue for Mexico. After the 1910 Mexican revolution, the newly formed government allowed military officials to take a share of drug profits in exchange for enforcing order and non-violence.(Katel, 2008, p. 1019). Despite some minor scandals, the drug cartels continued to spread throughout the country, and throughout the Mexican government. In the late 1960s, the skyrocketing use of marajuana lead the U.S. government to intensify it’s policy towards Mexican drug smuggling. In 1969, President Nixon went as far as to order the search of every car, boat or airplane entering the U.S. from Mexico. A few years later, the Mexican Government showed it’s intent to stop the drug trade by sending 10,000 soldiers into the Sinola mountain range. This plan, named “Operation Condor,” effecively diminished the growth of drugs for the time being, but would end up further spreading the reach of the drug cartels. The U.S. and Mexican governments celebrated these victories as the end of the Mexican drug trade, but that victory would be short lived.

By the mid-1980s, the drug trade had once again returned to Mexico and the United States was investing hundreds of millions of dollars in fighting the cartels. After the successful raid of a large marijuana plantation by the DEA, cartel leaders kidnapped and tortured a DEA agent and his pilot. After the DEA identified a suspect in the murders, the man was tipped off by a Mexican police commander and fled (Katel, 2008, p. 1022). These murders as well as the apparent corruption among the Mexican police drew lots of attention to the drug issues in Mexico. U.S. Customs commissoner William von Raab accused the Mexican government of widespread corruption, claiming that “Whenever Customs has a joint drug interdiction operation in a certain area in cooperation with Mexican police, if the Mexicans are told about it in advance, the activity always seems to drop off in that area,” ("'My Position Hasn't," 1986). Mexican authorities worked hard to fight the spreading corruption, at some points firing hundreds of police officers and arresting others (Katel, 2008, p. 1022). Policies by the Mexican government were able to reduce some of the corruption and violence, but the drug trade still remained a very prominent party of the country.

The drug cartel activity remained relatively low until 2000, when the country faced a massive political shift. After 71 years in power, the Revolutionary Industrial Party of Mexico was replaced with Viccente Fox. Fulfilling his promise to be tough on drug cartels, Fox began prosecuting army officers and state officials for their ties to drug gangs. He began campaigns to swiftly capture cartel leaders and lock them up. The efforts of the Fox administration were unprecedented and were seen as a sign of hope to many. However, the drug cartels had become far too strong and influential, and easily pushed past Fox’s efforts. In 2006, Viccente Fox was succeded by Felipe Calderón, who continued to dedicate a great deal of resources to the drug war (Katel, 2008, p. 1024). Calderón once again used military power to put pressure on drug cartels and thoroughly investigated suspected police forces, but drug cartels remained powerful and more violent than ever.

It will be nearly impossible for America to defeat the Mexican drug cartels if we can’t even trust the Mexican officials sworn to defeat them. Corruption is a major problem in Mexico among both law enforcement and government officials. Many instances have shown the great levels of incompetence among Mexican police officers. In 2001, notorious drug trafficker El Chapo Guzman was able to escape from maximum security prison simply by bribing his guards (Katel, 2008, p. 1024). Despite repeated efforts to eliminate government ties to drug cartels, the Mexican government has been unsuccessful. This is a difficult problem for the United States to confront, as it does not have authority over Mexican officials. It could, however, offer the services of U.S. intelligence agencies to run investigations into alleged corruptions and turn over the names of offenders to the Mexican government. Diplomatically, this may be a difficult task, but it is clear that the government can not eliminate the drug cartels until the cartels are removed from the government.

While directly aiding Mexico is beneficial to disrupting the drug cartels, the U.S. Government must also consider methods of reducing the demand for illegal drugs. Some states like California and Oregon have legalized the use of Marijuana for medical purposes and decriminalized the possession of small quantities of it (Suellentrop, 2009). Over 60 percent of drug cartel profits come from the sale of Marijuana, so domestic production of the drug would be a significant dent in the power of the drug cartels (Fainaru & Booth, 2009). Legalizing marijuana would also provide other benefits such as increased tax revenue and a decreased number people arrested on Marijuana charges. If Mexican drug cartels remain the main source of marajuana, the result could be an even bigger threat to our national security. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, some Mexican cartels have chosen to start marijuana farms on American soil to streamline the production and avoid smuggling drugs across the border. Drug opperations run by the Mexican cartels have the potential for the type of violence that is occurring in Mexico, which would directly put Americans at risk. The easiest way to eliminate the demand for these farms is to legalize marijuana and allow it to be grown domestically.

While legalizing Marijuana is a feasible approach to reducing the demand for illegal drugs, stronger drugs such as cocaine and heroin must be dealt with in different ways. The current system of harsh punishments for drug possession does little to reduce repeat offenders or break addictions. Many argue that a system which promotes rehabilitation rather than punishment for drug crimes will reduce drug problems throughout the country (Daremblum, 2009). In addition to helping those addicted to drugs, the government can reduce future drug use by supporting drug education programs in schools. These programs are shown to reduce drug use by students and will lower the demand for illegal drugs in the future. Congress must be proactive with these steps to help eliminate the need for illegal drug smuggling in the future.

America not only provides a market for the sale of illegal drugs, but it is also the primary source of guns for the drug cartels. In 2008, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms (ATF) testified that approximately 90 percent of weapons used by these gangs are purchased in America. It is clear that regulating and limiting gun sales would help reduce the violence in the south, but this idea is very controversial. The second amendment to the U.S. constitution which states that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” has invoked heated debate over what types of weapons are constitutionally protected. One plan is to reinstate the 1994 Assault Weapons ban. The ban outlawed many popular military-grade semi-automatic weapons such as the AK-47 and the AR-15, and prohibited weapon characteristics such as threaded muzzles or grenade launchers. The law was written to last for ten years, and in 1994, the ban expired.("U.S.-Mexico Relations.," 2010) While speaking before congress this May, Mexican President Felipe Calderón noted that the increase in violence in Mexico occured only shortly after the expiration of the assault weapon ban. Calderón encouraged congress to restore the assault weapon ban, but was met with mixed reactions (Knowlton, 2010). The bas is opposed by almost all republicans and many democrats as well. The simple mention of reinstating the ban by Attorney General Eric Holder in 2009 created a political firestorm and was almost instantly dialed back by the White House (Isikoff, 2009). Despite the large opposition to the ban, limiting the sale of assault rifles would stop cartels from easily obtaining new weapons. Americans enjoy our right to bear arms, but it is costing thousands of lives down in Mexico.

While it is unlikely that congress will be able to pass substantial legislation restricting gun sales, there are other steps that can be taken to limit the supply of weapons to the Mexican drug cartels. Agencies such as the ATF are working to try to figure out how to stop the purchase of guns in the U.S. by Mexican cartels. Cartels often will recruit American citizens with clean records to purchase their weapons, known as “straw buyers”. In an attempt to discover the main sources of these guns, the ATF has set up a new program to help track weapons. The program, named eTrace, is designed to allow the Mexican government to trace any U.S. gun back to it’s dealer. Unfortunately, many claim the program has been unsuccessful, citing a 31 percent success rate from 2009. ATF deputy director Kenneth Melson defends eTrace, stating that "the information was being submitted by people who didn't know how to trace guns," (Corcoran, 2009). Regardless of the success of this individual system, eTrace is the type of program that the government needs to invest in to cut off the supply of weapons to Mexico.

The drug war taking place in Mexico is directly connected to the actions of the United States and it’s citizens. To protect our national security and the security of Mexico, the U.S. needs to increase it’s role in the Mexican Drug war. America’s lack of action on this issue could lead to widespread violence in the country, much like in Mexican cities. Fighting the cartels may be difficult and expensive, but it is necessary to protect American citizens.