Mexico is at war with itself. Part II

There are problems on both sides of the border. Here in the US, we have untreated addictions dealt with through a deeply flawed criminal justice system. Those who wind up in jail simply have the least means to defend themselves in court. How many cocaine sniffing professionals do any hard time? There are also vested interests in keeping the unwinable war on drugs going. The DEA would likely no longer exist if we decriminalized drugs. What would happen to funding to the Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, (you can blush, George Orwell) and even the military? That’s a lot of well paid federal employees out of work who do not want to join the ranks of the unemployed! Last there is the problem of apathy here in the USA. Who cares about the carnage in Mexico as long as it stays there? So what if they are corrupt to the core? What is it to us if the highways are like a real life Mad Max Movie? Murder will not apply for a green card. People are already being killed on this side of the border. In Mexico there is rampant corruption, poverty and a growing sense of hopelessness. Looking at illegal drugs through a class lens shows how unfair laws and enforcement are applied to our poor. How many doctors using cocaine got three strikes? The large banks that assist with the money laundering process are never even mentioned much less face any penalty. Prison or jail time for a bank executive is currently out of the question.

There’s no end in sight. How much will the so-called War on Drugs have to cost us before we realize it is not working? We pretty much know it but is there a single politician in Washington with the courage to say so? Anyone? Even if there is, in the current political climate, change we can believe in (for real) is far off. What we are seeing is social collapse- Mexican narco-state style. A complete breakdown of society from the national government to the street is taking place in far too many parts of Mexico. People's most basic needs of safety and security are not being met. The unwelcoming US with its ailing economy looks a whole lot better than being caught between waring cartels.

What are some alternatives? Legalization and demilitarization sound impossible given our current state of affairs in Washington DC. I think this is exactly what it will really take to slow the violence and recover our fellow human beings lost to drug addiction. The military (any military) is a poor law enforcement tool even for needed laws. The power balance is too great in favor of the army and accountability flies out the window. How could legalization and demilitarization occur? I think it would have to be a gradual process like what is going on with pot now. If we made drug addiction a medical problem, countless lives could be saved. It is better for society, I believe, to redeem an addict and not simply try to lock him up. The on going drug wars in Mexico are not their only problem. There is a small group of very wealthy running a country of dirt poor. This is a great recipe for worsening conflict drug wars or not.

What are some other good ideas and how can we impliment them?

Mexico is at war with itself. Part I

Just for a moment put your self in the place of a so-called “illegal immigrant”. What are you to do when all the options are bad? Stay, with no job, no prospects and an out of control war fueled by drugs is raging all around or try to go north where the job prospects are so so and you are pretty much unwelcome. I don’t know about you, but I would try to escape the crushing poverty and endless violence by going north. Yeah, the US economy is still in the tank and with no serious options for fixing being considered by either political party, it looks like things will get worse before they get better. But consider what is going on to our south.

Mexico is in a sort of civil war that has been raging off and on for decades. Drug traffickers tempted by astronomical amounts of money (39 BILLION anyone?) and all the perks that go with it, have been fighting the hapless Mexican Government. This undeclared war has been ebbing and flowing in its intensity until recently. Since 2006, it has taken a far darker turn and lives lost number in the tens of thousands. Exact figures are hard to come by and vary according to the source. There are parts of Mexico that have morphed into such a state of lawlessness; they effectively have no government at all. Many of us here take police for granted. We call them and help will come. A crime here will be investigated. (I know this is not ALWAYS true.) In many parts of Mexico, you are on your own if something bad is happening and nobody knows anything. Consider this exchange between the Mayor of Guadalupe and Roy Carroll, a reporter for the Guardian:

“What is going on in the valley?”

"I really don't know."

“Who is doing the killing?”

"I really don't know."

“Who is responsible for security?”

"I really don't know."

“How many people have fled?”

"I really don't know."

The mantra almost becomes a joke. The mayor shrugs, smiles. He knows this exchange is ridiculous. He floats a metaphor. The "situation", he says, is "a perfect storm".

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/03/mexico-drug-war-killing-fields)

The mayor before him was assinated. He is wise to choose his words sparingly and carefully. Mr. Carroll goes on to describe the small town turned into an utter wasteland of burnings, beheadings, murders, kidnappings and “disappearances”.

Consider the following:

More than 28,000 people have died in Mexico's drug wars since President Felipe Calderón launched a military-led offensive against the cartels upon taking office in December 2006, and there seems no end in sight.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/03/mexico-war-drugs-violence

What is certain is that kidnappings of desperate and vulnerable men and women seeking to scramble across the Mexico-US border are commonplace. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission estimated in a report presented last year that nearly 20,000 migrants are kidnapped annually, based on the number of reports it received between September 2008 and February 2009. The government disputes these figures.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/05/brazilian-immigrants-gunned-down-mexico

Yes, we have our share of random and senseless acts of violence here but nothing on the scale Mexico is experiencing. For the most part, gang bangers here are not as well armed or as well trained at the police, much less our military. In Mexico this is not the case. The Cartels are often better armed and have more training than the police. The Gulf Cartel for example, uses ex- military and police as enforcers. They are known as the Zetas. They know police and military tactics.(http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34215.pdf) The level of violence is extreme, with beheadings, running gun battles, child soldiers (acting as hit-men), mass graves and torture. All too often there is zero accountability.

Part II later this week...