Blog Entry #10

             This week’s blog entry has brought me to an article titled “Why is Mexico drug war being ignored?” Since we have talked about drug wars in class, this caught my attention very quickly. During the presidential debate on foreign policy, both candidates seemed to show very little attention this topic. Statistics show that “nearly 60,000 people have perished since 2006 in the Mexican government’s military-led offensive against the country’s powerful, ruthless drug cartels.” In cities such as Ciudad Juarez and Monterrey it has become a “virtual war zone.” Mexico being our neighboring country, we cannot simply ignore what is taking place there.

                Many of these cartels are extremely violent and are beginning to threaten the integrity of the state. In Honduras and El Salvador the Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, have been successfully bribing the police by providing $5,000 monthly payments to compensate them for their cooperation, and for allowing them “to steal high-powered weapons and grenades from the military.” President Porfirio Lobo defends his country by arguing that the police officers and soldiers are outnumbered by the members of the drug gangs. With Mexico in such close proximity to the United States, much of the problems that they are facing are starting to “seep over the boarder” and is causing harms here. Even Costa Rica is now officially on the list of “major drug transit or major drug-producing countries.” With drug trade growing rapidly, it is becoming a major problem in societies everywhere.

                Mexican drug organizations now reportedly “have ties to criminal gangs in at least 230 American cities.” The 50 largest cities in America are included among those 230. Residents in bordering states like Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas are facing “intruders” that use their property as an entry way into the United States. Sadly, because of the drug crimes taking place, fear now plagues Mexican-American families along the border.

 

11/2/12 10:09 AM

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/30/why-is-mexico-drug-war-being-ignored/?iref=allsearch