The Importance of the Collaboration between the United States and Mexico in Drug Trafficking - Research Paper Example

Outline Thesis: In order to understand the importance of the collaboration between the United s and Mexico when it comes to handling the problem of drug trafficking, we must first look into the history of the trade in relation to the political implications on both sides of the border. I. The history of the trade of drug trafficking is one that is embedded into the history and culture of various Latin American countries. A. Coca is a naturally occurring plant in the Latin American countries that is not harmful to people unless it is mixed with other chemicals. B. It was only upon the discovery of the hallucinogenic effect of Coca with chemicals that the plant became a focal point of the drug trade. II. Drug cartels made it possible for the drug trade to cross borders. A. The illegal trafficking of drugs created an economic boom for Latin American countries that were destitute. B. The hot money flowing through the drug cartels allowed them to buy off and influence politicians who could protect their drug interests. III. Due to the cartels influence in local, national, and international politics, it will be difficult to destroy the illegal drug trade. A. Mexico has done what it can in order to curb the illegal drug trade and keep the problem within its borders B. The United States acknowledges that the drug trade has entered the country and they will need to assist Mexico in order to contain and eliminate the drug cartels. A History of Drug Cartels and Its Political Influence Before delving into the nitty-gritty of the Drug cartels and its political influence, a study must be made of its past in order to understand how it became such a huge problem in Latin and Central America. How could something as simple as Coca, which is an abundant Latin American resource pose such a worldwide problem for the drug enforcement authorities? More importantly, we need to understand how, as a drug cartel, its leaders managed to infiltrate politics which allowed them the power to become political king makers whose terms in office help to protect the vested interests of the drug cartels. There is no sugar coating it. Even though drugs and politics make for strange bedfellows, it is a political partnership that seems to serve both corrupt parties quite well. In the meantime, take a look at how the lowly Coca resource went from a gift of nature to the bane of mankind. As previously mentioned, Coca has been a tremendously positive part of Latin American culture for over a century. Coca has been used to “combat hunger, fatigue, sickness and even increase oxygen flow to the brain at high altitudes.” (“Mexican Drug Cartels”). With such diverse use for Coca, it is easy to understand why the Latin American governments have not found any reason to ban its cultivation nor place a penalty on growing Coca. However, it is also the fact that the plant can be used in such diverse ways and mixed with other ingredients that it became enticing for the Latin American drug cartels to experiment with ways and means to use it for illicit means. Due to the leniency in raising Coca, drug cartels believed that they could get away with cultivating the plant for drug use by turning it into cocaine through its mixing with various chemicals. Keep in mind that Latin America has never been a prosperous region of the world. It is an area populated some of the poorest communities, war-torn, and impoverished nations that often look to other countries for aid, both of the humanitarian and financial kind. Other Latin American countries are more troubled than the rest as they fall under the rule of military dictators such as the case in Cuba and Venezuela. The economic problems that resulted in a slowdown in the Latin American region found most of the population living in poverty. The organized crime groups in the region decided to take advantage of the situation, creating new jobs and employment for the people by having them work for the drug cartels. The guerilla groups and organized crime rings benefited from the poverty of the people and took advantage of the inability of the government to provide for the basic needs and necessities of the people. Even though drug cartels began to flourish throughout Latin America, the 5 most nefarious drug cartels, the Guadalajara, Sinoloa, Tijuana, Juarez, and Gulf cartels all located themselves within the borders of Mexico (“The Five Most Famous Drug Cartels”). It is from these five groups that the story of the Mexican drug cartels unfold. Information derived from the research by McGahan explained that the Guadalajara cartel was founded by Migeul Angel Felix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carillo, and Rafael Caro Quintero. The infamous cartel is credited with being the first to actually prosper from the Colombian cocaine trade. After a crackdown on the cartel, only Felix Gallardo managed to privatize the drug trade by spinning it off and allowing lesser known bosses who already had their own drug rings. After his arrest the Guadaljara Cartel spun off into 2 groups, the Sinaloa and Tijuana cartels. Joaquin Guzman became the leader of the Sinaloa cartel. One of Mexicos most wanted drug traffickers prior to his arrest in Mexico last February, his illegal drug trade made him a billionaire to the tune of $1 billion. He was an extremely powerful man whose reign of terror resulted in 12, 000 deaths as his gang war with the Juarez cartel escalated in an effort to take over the latters drug route. El Chapo, as he was known withn the cartel circle, became Chicagos public enemy number 1 and ran the Mexico -Chicago drug route which was then distributed throughout the Midwest region to small gangs (McGahan, Jason “How Captured Mexican Drug Lord El Chapo Turned Chicago Into His Home Port”). In reports from “The Five Most Famous Drug Cartels”, the title of “the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico” rests with the Tijuana cartel. Led by Felix Gallardos nephews, the Arellano Felix brothers. However, infighting and arrests of its members has whittled down the size of their cartel. The Juarez cartel though, prides itself in being a former partner of the Sinaloa cartel. Controlling 3 main drug entry points into the United States in El Paso, Texas, the group works with the La Linea and Barrio Azteca groups to secure the drug route into the United States. This barbaric group has been known to behead, mutilate and display the heads of their executed enemies. Finally, we have the Gulf cartel that is based in Matamoros, Tamaulimpas. It is one of the oldest drug groups in Mexico and works through an international network. It has also been involved in assassinations and kidnappings worldwide. Even with the arrest of the group leaders Mario Alberto Cardenas Guillen, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, and Antonio Cardenas Guillen, the cartel still manages to operate and infiltrate the United States (“The Five Most Famous Drug Cartels”). ONiel explains the method by which the drug cartels manage to bypass the security systems that governments have set into place boggles the mind. Surely it would be easy to apprehend their gang members if the government puts its mind to it. The problem is that whether in the United States or Mexico, the whispers of corrupt government officials who are in bed with the cartel leaders persists. There seems to be an unseen, unacknowledged, and unspoken of payoff system between the government officials whose influence is necessary to get the drugs into the country, and the cartel. However, the change in politics in Mexico and the United States, that resulted in a change of national leadership and a much closer working relationship between the two nations in terms of combating drug trafficking, seems to have thrown the cartels through a loop. Stricter border control and more accurate surveillance of suspected drug groups has led the drug cartels to tighten and streamline their operations. (ONiel, Shannon “The Real War in Mexico”). That said, nobody can actually say that the politicians in Mexico are no longer in business with the drug lords. The term coined to explain this strange partnership is “The Corruption Conundrum”. Mexican druglords still manage to infiltrate the government agencies and co-opt the government officials in the process. Although this partnership raises the price of the drugs due to the political and law enforcement influence that the cartels are forced to buy in order to move their products locally and across states, the cartels go ahead with it because the money they pay out comes back a thousand fold (Gonzales, Francisco “Mexicos Drug War Gets Brutal”). To quote author Francisco Gonzales; Given the rising tide of violence and the mounting evidence of drug-related corruption at all levels of government, it is probably fair to say that so far, the cartels, have managed to take the lead in a psychological war against the Mexican state (Gonzales, Francisco “Mexicos Drug War Gets Brutal”). It is important to note that not all the government officials in Mexico and the United States are corrupt. My opinion is that not all of them are beholden to the drug cartels. But because the drug cartels do not hesitate to use coercion, blackmail, and assassination attempts as warnings to the officials who refuse to cooperate, the government official is sometimes left without a choice. One of the main reasons that these drug cartels continue to proliferate is that the cartel leaders have learned how to create an enticing image for the cartels known as a “narco lifestyle”. By involving themselves in mediums such as clothing and music, they are able to make their products and lifestyle seem cool and more acceptable to people. Thus they are able to recruit, and glamorize their lifestyle. Making them seem more on the level of the public than they actually are (Guevara, America “Propaganda in Mexicos Drug War”). Keep in mind that in the music world, it is an open secret that even the rapper Jay - Z, who began his career as a drug trader and made his money from drugs before going straight and earning billions from his glamorized cartel-like lifestyle. It was because of this impunity of the drug cartels that the Mexican President Felipe Calderon was forced to convince the United States that because the drugs were also entering their country, the United States had a co-responsibility to ensure that these drug cartels were taken down. However, the entry of the United States into the picture did not do much to change the problem of international drug trafficking within the cartel system. In response to the threat and in a move to take responsibility for the control and eradication of the drug cartel entering its borders, the United States has over the years spent over a trillion dollars, in an effort to combat the entry of illegal drugs into its borders. However, it seems to be a futile battle because of ; “... shifts in allegiances, changes in delivery techniques (and), all kinds of new technologies applied on both the supply and prevent sides...” (Beckhardt 123). Yet America has not given up on their anti drug trafficking drive. During his official visit to Mexico on March 3, 2011, President Barack Obama reiterated the desire of the United States to co-police the drug trade with Mexico by helping Mexico to eradicate the drug cartels and their tentacle businesses as well. Pres. Obama reiterated that: ... the United States accepts our shared responsibility for the drug violence. So to combat the southbound flow of guns and money, we are screening all southbound rail cargo, seizing many more guns bound for Mexico, and we are putting more gunrunners behind bars. And as part of our new drug control strategy, we are focused on reducing the demand for drugs through education, prevention and treatment... We are very mindful that the battle President Calderón is fighting inside of Mexico is not just his battle; it’s also ours. We have to take responsibility just as he’s taking responsibility (qtd in “Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime”). The power of these drug cartels reach unbelievable proportions to the point that sometime in the 1990s, the Mexican cartels found themselves working alongside their Columbian counterparts which led to the Colombian drug cartels controlling whole territories in countries in Central and South America (Diener & Hagen 94). It is also believed that in order to ensure the continued growth of the drug trade, the drug cartels worldwide have taken to arms dealing and human trafficking. The drug profits have been said to also fund the bribery of government officials and border authorities (Dener & Hagen 94). Being the closest neighbor to these drug trafficking nations, the United States has long been battling the influx of illegal drugs such as cocaine into its borders. Richard Nixon was one of the first presidents to acknowledge the danger of the drug trade that was creeping into the nation. In fact in an op-ed piece by Vuillamy, he mentions that Nixon called the drug problem “Public Enemy No. 1” and declared on July 17, 1971 a war on drugs that would assume the “dimensions of a national emergency”. Asking Capitol Hill for an initial $84m (£52m) for "emergency measures" to combat the drug problem. Nixon took such responsive actions towards the problem that he signed the war on drugs into law on January 28, 1972. (Vuillamy, Ed “Nixons War on Drugs Began 40 Years Ago, and the Battle is Still Raging”). Ronald Reagan, as an American president also did his part to combat drugs and continue the efforts of Nixon to prevent its spread within American shores. On October 4, 1982, he declared a war on illicit drugs in America, calling these items a “threat to national security”, echoing a statement made by Nixon a decade earlier. Yet, the war of America on illegal drugs began long before the more well known anti-drug campaigns of Nixon and Reagan. Andrew Glass, whose research is previously mentioned also learned that: ... the policies that his administration implemented as part of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 dated to Woodrow Wilson’s presidency and the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914. This was followed by the creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930. (Glass, Andrew “Reagan Declares War on Drugs, October 14, 1982”) It is important to note that had the United States not entered into the drug trafficking offensive, it may have been more difficult for countries like Mexico and Colombia to battle the drug cartels. President Bill Clinton started the co-responsibility movement via his Plan Colombia in the year 2000 in coordination with then Colombian President Andres Pastrana. Which is why Colombia has always been the biggest recipient of narcotics aid in the region. However, Pres. George W. Bush and his Merida Initiative pushed U.S. Congress to release $1.4 billion in 3 years beginning in Dcember 2008 to the Mexican government. Under this program, the United States provided technology and training to Mexican authorities that applied to their war on drugs (Dener & Hagen 94-95). The opinion of many governments and law enforcement officials is that the war on drugs and the cartels should be considered a borderless war because the drug cartels know no boundaries and does not recognize territorial jurisdictions. Mexican and Columbian authorities have both done their part in order to take down the never ending stream of cartels and mini cartels, imprison drug lords and organized crime bosses, and policed their borders as best as they can. But in order to totally defeat the cartels, the United States must take on a more participative role in the prevention of drug trafficking within its borders. This means that American politicians must also be policed and investigated if even the most remote hint of their involvement in illegal drugs is presented. It is not enough that the United States supplies technology and supplies to these countries if their own politicians will undermine their countrys anti drug policies and programs. Without more effective implementation of anti drug trafficking laws, peaceful citizens of the world will always be placed in direct drug cartel / gang violence danger from these cartels. Take for example the case of Cristina Roman from Mexico who told me her story just so I could portray the violence that these drug carter gangs inflict upon innocent civilians. She relates the events that transpired one night in May 2010 when a knock on their door changed their lives: The gang members violently entered their home and pistol whipped her husband with their gun butts before they kidnapped him. Making ransom demands over the next few days that Cristina could not comply with. So they threw her husbands dead body in the middle of streets in Juarez. Her children and she were only spared because of the gang members El Vato, took pity on them and asked to lock herself and the children in a room. The reason that she was targeted by the Mexican drug cartel? She survived a mass shooting as one of the few witnesses to the executions in Juarez. In conclusion, I would like to say that the war on drugs is by no means coming to an end. The problem and its accompanying violence continues to spread across the world with offshoots of the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels infiltrating other countries in Asia such as the Philippines. Therefore, battling these drug cartels and trying to combat their political influence is now an international matter of concern rather than localized or regional concerns. Book Summaries Mexican Gold: The Forty Year Drug War This book by Arnold R. Beckhardt takes a close look at the inner workings of the drug war between two Mexican drug cartels that were vying for the American drug route. Although partially fictional since the lead character Roy Nealy is a character created by the writer, the events and facts presented about the drug war and the Mormon immigration to Mexico were verifiable and accurate. Although it would have never occurred to people, it seems that the Mormons have a lot to do with the entry of illegal drugs into the United States. The book also references the various anti drug programs that Mexico and the U.S. have tried to enforce in order to curtail the drug cartels over the past 40 years. Borders: A Very Short Introduction This book is a factual introduction to the concept of borders in terms of geographical location, politics, social, and ethnic concepts. These were concepts that developed over years and have constantly changed in definition depending upon the need of a country. Deiner pays particular attention to the concept of borderlands and liminal zones without being overly academic in its discussion. It provides the reader with a clear concept, particularly about immigration and the relationship between borders such as the U.S. and Mexico and how that border can be abused by unscrupulous characters such as drug cartels. Works Cited Beckhardt, Arnold R. Mexican Gold: The Forty Year Drug War. S.l.: Authorhouse, 2010. Print. Diener, Alexander C., and Joshua Hagen. Borders: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print. Glass, Andrew. “Reagan Declares War on Drugs, October 14, 1982”. Politico. politico.com. 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. Gonzales, Franciso E. “Mexicos Drug War Gets Brutal”. fatcow.com. fatcow.com. n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. Guevara, America. "Propaganda in Mexicos Drug War." Journal of Strategic Security, 6.3Suppl (2013): 131-51. Print. McGahan, Jason. “How Captured Mexican Drug Lord El Chapo Turned Chicago Into His Home Port”. time.com. time.com. 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. “Mexican Drug Cartels”. borderlandbeat.com. borderlandbeat.com. n.d. Web. 1 mar. 2014. ONiel, Shannon. “The Real War in Mexico”. Foreign Affairs. cerium.ca. Jul-Aug. 2009 Web. 1 Mar. 2014. “The Five Most Famous Drug Cartels”. drugabuse.com. drugabuse.com. n.d. Web. 28. Feb. 2014. United States. The White House. Strategy to Combat Organized Transnational Crime. The White House, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. Vulliamy, Ed. “Nixon War on Drugs Began 40 Years Ago, and the Battle is Still Raging”. The Guardian. theguardian.com. 24 Jul. 2011. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. Read More