They Know Where You Live: Mexican Drug Cartels

The cacophony of automatic weapons fire saturates the air while the actual bullets penetrate poorly built homes in a crowded working-class neighborhood as better trained, equipped and funded terrorists battle military and police on an otherwise pleasant evening.  Amidst the stink of cordite, children scream as their parents try to keep them out of the path of projectiles that cannot determine innocence or guilt; they only take lives.  Eventually, the shots die out;  no clear cut victor, and the people return to their routine; happy to have emerged unscathed.  At least this time.

This scene is occurring not in Mogadishu, nor Bashrah, nor Kandahar, but in Tijuana, where less than 20 miles away; at least 30,000 (figure used for illustrative purposes, the actual number is probably more like 30) are gathered to celebrate the mediocrity that has become the San Diego Padres.  The home of the infamous Donkey Show and $20…um…sombreros has become a battleground to rival the worst middle-eastern cities.

Webster’s defines terrorism as the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.  Never has this definition been more apt than in a description of the Mexican drug cartels.  Through systematic deployment of threats, bribery, torture, and outright brutal butchery, the Mexican drug cartels have grown to be more powerful in both Mexico and the United States than the Medellin (Colombian) cartel could have ever hoped to be.

The Mexican cartels were originally hired by producers of illegal narcotics to smuggle and distribute Colombian cocaine, methamphetamines and Southeast Asian heroin into the United States.  They were paid primarily with a cut of the distributed product, and as a result of their success, grew rapidly in strength and sophistication.

The cartels are much better armed than the sparse Mexican police forces (a great percentage of whom under dire threats or bribery are informing to the cartels anyway) and most cartels utilize security forces/mercenaries culled from military special forces.  In addition to state of the art weaponry, the cartels also employ sophisticated counter-intelligence including; wire taps, cellular traps, and GPS tracking in order to stay one step ahead of the competition.  They are not concerned with the ineffectual efforts of the Mexican police or military.  In a recent battle in Nuevo Laredo, the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel battled over a primary smuggling route or “plaza” with weapons including rocket propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.

To be honest readers, I could spend so much time on this topic that it would make my New Deal series look like a photo caption, but I am not going to do that to you.  In return, I want you to research this topic, and I want to discuss possible solutions with you.  What can we possibly do about this?  The corruption that exists in Mexico is almost unbelievable.  Last year when the highest police official in the nation Edgar Millan was assasinated in his home, it was widely accepted that it was because he was an honest man.  But as time passed, it was rumored that perhaps he had failed to follow through on his bought and paid for promise to the Sinaloa cartel.

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UPDATE (3/24) – Obama has moved to step up border security by sending hundreds of federal agents (and $700 million) to the Southwest.