Ay Dios Mio…
Mexico, Mexico, Mexico…
“Gun battles, ambushes and jail riots have claimed the lives of hundreds of people in the past five days of massive drug violence in Mexico. Mexican army troops raided a house in Taxco, a tourist town south of Mexico City, and a firefight ensued, killing 14. Nineteen drug addicts at a rehab clinic, including teenagers, were murdered execution style. Mafia assassins ambushed police using burning buses to block a highway, killing 12. Rival gangs exploded into violence in to jail; 29 died. Last week, the number of people killed in a 24-hour period—96—set a record for the country. (Though the last five days have been horrifying, since December 2006, at least 23,000 people have been killed in drug violence.) President Felipe Calderón defended his war against organized crime in a newspaper editorial printed nationwide, saying Mexico’s national security depends on it.”
I really feel for the people in Mexico. For too long, Mexico has struggled with drug lords buying politicians, judges, and running a corrupt police department that would often times be the ones commiting the illegal acts themselves; and when Nixon decided to declare war against drugs, I’m not sure anyone in that administration knew exactly what to expect. 40 years later, here we are… with the same problems, in the same mess. The amount of adaptaility the drug cartels have shown is actually amazing. They are very, VERY innovative and always seem to be one step ahead of organizations like the DEA and the FBI.
The drug outlets seem to pop up in places you’d least expect them to. You may remember a few months ago, an actual submarine was confiscated carrying a huge amount of drugs on it. A SUBMARINE. Like, in the OCEAN. With this type of unpredictability, how is it possible to real put an end to something that had the freedom to run so rampant for so long? How can you remove roots that have had enough time, power, money, and influence to set deeply into a culture that has learned to fear this machine?
Then questions begin to surface…
“Are we going about this the right way?”
“The source or the user?”
“Money for rehab programs or money to fight drug cartels?”
“Money to create jobs for people that wouldn’t need to sell to survive and provide?”
“Developing a country to become competitive so it isn’t weak and frail?”
These questions lead to more questions which, unfortunately, provide few answers. Things seem to fall into a massive grey area and stubborn politicians refuse to deviate from the course the people sitting at the very desks before them set. But, these are the questions that really should be asked. Would these drug lords still grow and sell drugs if no one bought them? No. Would they have as much power if everyone disconnected themselves from the schism? No.
People that have cured their addiction are living proof of what changes can be made once you remove the user from the source, instead of the other way around. It’s a lot cheaper to fund rehab clinics and educate people than it is to run entire organizations and set up international operations, not to mention the number of lives that would be spared.
This is my biggest problem with Calderón at the moment:
“Calderón blamed the U.S. for driving demand, calling its neighbor the biggest drug addict in the world.”
Yes, the US has a lot of drug addicts. Yes, drugs are big business in the US. Yes, drugs are a problem the US is also facing. Yes, yes, yes…
BUT:
The problem is that he is failing to mention how for years and years, Mexico’s corrupt government had mismanaged and misallocated billions of dollars. He is failing to mention how, really since his presidency, no one else from Mexico has actually stood up to the the drug cartels in Mexico. He is failing to mention that Mexico had the intelligence and the resources, from trade to oil revenue, to combat the drug cartels that it realized became too powerful. This is exactly why now the Mexican ARMY has to be called in to weaken the powerful cartels.
Now… whose fault is it really, Mr. Calderón? Cause it’s not just the US’.
