A Laundry List of Problems

At last, someone has truly outlined issues in Mexican security and equity, and presented them in a sort of open letter to President Obama.

The article outlines various issues that threaten the welfare of the state of Mexico, including:
- Corrupt court officials that prohibit drug kingpins from being jailed
- No media safety net, as many journalists are taken hostage and/or killed

The article continues on to divide the blame between the United States and President Calderon; the former because of the un-renewed ban on assault weapons and high demand for mexican drugs, and the latter because of his inability to reach out to his "left" allies for help in the time of the country's greatest need.

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Billions in 'Blood Money' Fuel Bloodshed In Juarez, Mexico

Juarez has suffered greatly as a result of the drug violence present in Mexico.  The city has been completely overtaken by the drug war. 2,000 have died as a result of drug violence in the last 14 months.  The army has been occupying the city in a state of martial law for the last six weeks. The mayor had fired half of the police force to attempt to remove corruption,resulting in the deaths of 50 officials. a former mercenary claims to have had help smuggling drugs from us officials on the border. He said the drug cartels have many US officials on payroll and they are known to the cartel members only by number. The FBI has said the corruption from the cartels is on the rise.  Especially as the justice system in Mexico has mostly fallen apart as most cases from 2008 went unsolved.  The Mayor ofJuarez sees a great irony in the continued marijuana usage by Americans and the fact that 90 percent of guns found on cartel members are from the US.

Mexico having even temporily lost a city to complete immersion in drug violence is a very scary thing considering its status is very close to 'failed state'. The US's continuing inability to assist Mexico is severly hurting the Mexicans fight against the drug cartels.

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Mexico is in Free Fall

Mexico's drug cartels goal is to tame and control the Mexican state, not just the border. It's state institutions are under attack in a way they haven't been for decades, or so this article claims. Journalists are more afraid to go to Mexico than anywhere in the Middle East even experienced war zone reporters.  The cartels target important officials without fear: Jose Felix, co-coordinator at the national centre for planning and analysis to combat organized crime;  Edgar Gomez, the highest ranked federal police official ; Juan Mournio, the national security adivsor, crashed in a plane under mysterious circumstances; Mauro Quinones was tortured and killed a week after recieving the positon of anti-drug chief in Cancun. The United States has in the past only paid lip service to foreign relations with Mexico despite this being a time when Mexico needs as much help as it can get.

It is terrifiyng to realize the implications of these targeted murders.  The drug cartels are confident that they don't have to worry too much about anyone. They have the power. People listen to them and fear them. Without help, it is uncertain whether Chalderon will be able to keep a handle on this already out of control situation.

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Failed State

With the drug wars taking apart the country of Mexico one brick at a time, many other international countries are trying to remove themselves from Mexico so they won’t get dragged down as well.  The problems have been internal for a long time, but now with the serious economic issues faced around the globe, Mexico’s “rep” has finally gone over the border. Literally.  The US government has even issued travel advisories of people going to Mexico, the very nation bordering us to the south.  Protests are occurring that were put together by the drug trafficking gangs.  Then the police chief in Cuidad Juarez was told to step down or a cop would be killed every two days.  It sounds like it’s straight from No Country for Old Men right?  Calderon sending 40,000 troops to fight the drug cartels has developed into “unprecedented violence.”  The drug gangs themselves seem to have risen up to the government mandates and fought back.  With the violence being worst at the border, as stated before, we could have a chaotic situation with an unprecedented end at our southern border.   Globalization could very well be stopping at the borders of Mexico and allowing events to take their own path.  As stated below by Ian, perhaps one of the only ways to remove the drug gangs from this violent scenario is to legalize drugs.  Otherwise, Mexico may be on its way down.  

“Mexico has an image problem. It has long been internal – with newspaper headlines and nightly news broadcasting the menacing notes, severed heads, and bullet-riddled bodies that are the byproducts of a deadly drug war raging across the country.”

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