Cocaine Trafficking in Mexico - Coursework Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Cocaine trafficking in Mexico Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Cocaine trafficking in Mexico Introduction Drug trafficking is the prohibited production and distribution of illegal drug substances and the money involved in these process, it is generally an illegal drug business. Drug trafficking is a global based underground economy on the production, manufacturer and sale or distribution of the substances which are subject to the laws prohibiting drugs. It is difficult to explain the history of this trade because it began with the existence of the drugs although it was completely legally accepted until the when the act of drug prohibition was introduced. Although it is a globe issue, there are those nations or cities that are more affected than others and it is becoming difficult to eliminate it unless its demand or consumption is reduced. Mexico City is the leading in drug trafficking whereby the recent news concerning the issue was about a shootout between the solders and a gang of 15 drug traffickers in the Mexico City that left two gunmen dead and one alleged top trafficker Jose Gerardo Alvarez-Vasquez was arrested (Columbia University. School of International Affairs, 2007). Drug trafficking in Mexico Mexico country is not only a major producer and transit of illegal drugs but also the main foreign supplier to the United States. It supplies drugs such as Cannabis, Methamphetamine and a large share of Heroin although it holds a small share of its production. These and some others like cocaine and amphetamine acts as source of living to most of the residents of Mexico City. According to the recent analysis, the annual earnings of an illicit drug dealer ranges between $13.6 billion to $48.4 and because of the effectiveness efforts of the U.S. in trying to monitor the transfers of electronic money, the Mexican traffickers transport money in trucks and cars. Figure1. A map showing drug user treatment admissions in Mexican states bordering the U.S. Cocaine trafficking in Mexico Due to its geographical location, most of the immigrants meant for the United States from South America and other concern States would go through Mexico City. Colombia’s Pablo Escobar, the major exporter of Cocaine through some organized networks of criminals decided to collaborate with the traffickers from Mexico to transport their drugs through Mexico into United States. This opened a route for the traffickers from Mexico to export their Heroin, by mid-1980 the trafficking organizations from Mexico had been established and reliable drug suppliers. Cocaine or benzoylmethylecgonine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid which is got from the leaves of coca plant. Even though its commercialization is illegal according to the records, cocaine stands out to be the most penalized in almost all the countries, its global use still holds in many different social, cultural and personal settings. According to the financial report of the Mexican country, it spends millions of dollars on the efforts to try to fight drug trafficking. This is always through the high-tech operations along the boarders and in the airports so as to limit the export of drugs to the United States. More than the 90 per cent of the cocaine that enters and circulates in United States has its origin from Mexico or is trafficked through Mexico. Cocaine is a highly addictive and illegal drug that is trade through the underground market. These are the most expensive drugs compared to the others and there are some factors which contribute to the rise of their prices: its nature of addictiveness hence the demand is high and the risks involved when trafficking it across the boarders Both the United States and the Mexicans are trying their best to stop or minimize this business but there are many challenges against this: the operation is very profitable or entails dealing with large amounts of money hence more people flock into it and by all means try to smuggle it (University of Miami. North-South Center, 2006). The history of cocaine dates back to foundation of the states party in 1929 although it was not very common but only a few cartels operated and did so with the support of some political elites and some corrupt class of Mexico party so they would share part of their profits with them. This went on up to 1980s and 1990s when there was an increase of the drug related violence and resulted to murders which still bother the present error of the PAN Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The operations of trafficking cocaine although existed in the early 1900was not well established compared to the others like heroin and opium but in the mid 1970 and 1980, it had become the most insatiable drug market in history. This is due to the increase in demand of the commodity in the United States. During this time approximately 100 to 200 crime syndicates in northern Mexico were all wholesalers of Colombian cocaine. Mexico preeminently became the sub-contractors to refine or manufacture cocaine from Colombia and would store them in the warehouses owned by the Colombia to be shipped via the pipelines of the southwest U.S-Mexico at a significant profit. This led to the increase of the final prices of the commodity in the street market of United States. Since 1989, the smugglers from Mexico not happy with their Colombian partner’s delinquency of payment, so they held back the ships of so as to revenge. By mid the following year the Mexicans handled more than half of the cocaine which was transported across the boarder. The Colombians continued to withdraw from the relationship and at last the operation was left at the hands of the Mexicans who to date are in charge of the wholesale distribution and in the West and Midwest of the United States (Bagley, 2009). The profitable market of cocaine in Mexico led to an increase of the number of the operators who were identified by different families or organizations. The most recognized families in the cocaine trade was referred to as the “mother of all modern gangs,” under the leadership of the former police officer and the guard of one of the famous Mexican governor Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo. His imprisonment in 1989 enhanced some of his relatives to join and became leaders of the most violent Tijuana cartel which still exists and is responsible for the today’s notorious kidnappings and murders along the Tijuana boarder. This and some other organizations have come up to carry out the exercise and their chief mode of trafficking still remains viable shipping vehicles which have replaced the reliance on the air traffic held by the “El Señor de los Cielos” [Lord of the Skies], Juárez cartel drug lord Amado Carillo Fuentes. In US the illegal substance gets in through legal points of entry. The DEA official credits the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a godsend to large volume trafficking of drugs. Various cell-based operators in the American cities intercept the delivery of cocaine with the indirect connection with the Mexican operators so as not to connect them to the authority (LaMond, 2009). The events which followed the September 11th 2001 terrorist’s attacks on US led to the relocation of its forces of interdiction from this area giving a way for a greater increase in the operations of trafficking along the coast of Mexico. However the same time the empowerment of law along the northern Mexico and US improved to tighten the security of the place hence the traffickers only succeeded through sneaking and fighting the security guards. The global economic inflation has led to the present financial crisis hence people need a lot of money to make it in life. This factor has greatly contributed to the spread of the illegal trade so as to raise a lot of finances. The business of highly profitable such that most of the people are engaging in it for better standards of life. Sometimes last year, the agents of the Boarder Patrol seized over 2 million kilos of narcotics at their area of operation (boarder crossings) and the number of those who were caught with heroines was recorded the most. It shows some significant increase from the previous records with over 316 per cent jump from 2008. Both the Mexico and the US governments are working hard to fight a number of the many violent drug cartels which are supplying the illegal substances in US. The Mexican Drug War that led to the arrest of the top traffickers, early this year came after the Mexico’s visit of the top government officers of US with the guidance of the secretary of the state Hillary Clinton, to underscore their responsibility for the drug related violence. With the leadership of Barrack Obama in the White House, the conditions are changing (Edberg, 2009). At the beginning of this year for the first time the US government acknowledged that it is to be blamed to some extend in the problems of the drug trafficking in Mexico as they held the biggest shares of consumptions of the substances. However they are waiting to see the efforts of the president of Mexican, Felipe Calderon in making ways in his ant-drugs campaigns as the government of the US is trying to fight against the consumption of these drugs. The drug trafficking in Mexico has lead to the Mexican Drug War which is as an armed conflict between the government forces and the rival drug cartels. Many of the ringleaders in the trafficking organizations have been killed and others imprison. For example, on Friday, March 26, 2010, Jose Antonio Medina whose street name was Don Pope was arrested and according to the report from the head of the anti-corruption, he is being held for prosecution. He ran a complex operation of transporting 200 kilos of cocaine every month for La Familia drug cartel across the Mexican boarder in Tijuana. The report of the White House National Drug Threat Assessment states that although the use of cocaine is stable or decreasing in the US, its source has changed from Colombia which was its initial producer to Mexico where the more powerful cartels of drugs are gaining a foothold in the profitable market. The spectators also noted that when the Mexican Congress approved a similar law of anti-drug campaign some years back, the then president Vicente Fox refused to sign it because of the stiff pressures from the administration of Bush in Washington. But this time the issue was so open because of the information got by the researchers concerning the consumption of the substance hence the US cannot claim to be innocent. The New Mexican rules states that there will be no law action to taken against people who are found with small amounts of drugs like: half a gram of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin or 40 grams of marijuana, however will be encouraged to attend a drug treatment programs for rehabilitation (Abadinsky, 2007). There are many and well established cartels from Mexico which facilitates the success of the operation. They have increased their co-operation with the prison and street gang from United States to enlarge their network of distribution of their substances of matter. This also empowers them to be able to fight the authority. Although the government is trying to fight and get rid of some of the stars in the drug cartels, they are finding it difficult to completely stop the entire process because the cartels are many and others are still coming up due to the rapid increasing demand of the substance and the growing demand for money. The Mexican cartels controls the wholesale or the supply of the all the illegal drug market in the United States as cartels from the other nations collaborate with them for their operations to be successful. Effects of cocaine trafficking in Mexico To stop or reduce the illicit trade of drugs the government an anti-drug body and a force to fight the program. This has resulted to war as the drug cartels try to repel; this is especially common in Guerrero, Baja California, Michoacán, Nuevo and many others in Mexico although Michoacán is the most affected, being the home state of president Calderon, he is much concern about the operations going on there. The map below shows some of the states where most of the conflicts takes place At the beginning of 2007, the drug czar from United States published figures which showed that the ant-drug war had positively affected the illegal business in US leading to an unreasonable increment of the prices of cocaine by as much as 50% in 37 cities across the country, while its purity reduced to 11%. This is good evidence that the effort had sharply reduced the supply of the substance. Since Calderon became the president in December 2006, arrests and attacks have increased alongside with Mexico extraditing more than a hundred people wanted in U.S. A new rule was also implemented which stated that all private airplanes to stop for inspection at either the airport of Cozumel on the Caribbean coast or Tapachula airport in the Guatemala boarder. Sometimes later in 2008, the Mexican narco submarine conducted an inspection and arrested four smugglers before they rush their vessel. It was loaded with 5.8 tons of cocaine (United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, 2001). This trafficking has also led to the corruption of officials. Mexican cartels precede their business by intimidating or corrupting the law enforcing officials. The report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) shows that although Mexico has made efforts to minimize corruption, it still remains a serious problem. The federal government has also conducted purges and prosecution of the police forces in Nuevo Laredo, Baja California, Michoacán and Mexico City. The areas of concern were where the police were believed to be handling the Cartels, by mid 2007; the president had purged 284 police commanders from 31 states and the federal districts. In the clean up operation which was conducted in 2008, a number of high ranking officials and agents were arrested for selling of information and protection of drug cartels. These and many other incidents portray that some of the government officials have been corrupted to allow the operation to go on illegally. Drug trafficking has impacts on the human rights. The corruption, terror and violence as a result of illicit drug trade results to abusing human rights in Mexico. Some of the processes undertaken by the police and military of Mexico in the name of trying to combat drug cartels seriously violate human rights, for example, the human torture and threats. Others and especially in the recent times are illegal arrests, prolonged detention, rape, torture and fabrication of evidence. The emergence of the internal federal agencies can to some level contribute to violations of human rights. The Federal Investigations Agency of Mexico was involved in a number of cases which violated human rights. These cases generally entailed torture and corruption. For example the death of a detainee, Guillemo Velez Mendoza while under the custody of the Federal Investigation Agencies. In 2005, the office of the Attorney General reported that a fifth of its officers were investigated for suspected criminal activities and some of them were already facing charges (United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, 2001). Cocaine also causes both physical and social harm of the individuals using them. According to the results of the rational scale cocaine is the second harmful drug with heroin being at the top of the list. Thus most of the people are leading abnormal lives after overdosing it or using it for a lengthy of time. Others are prone to risky diseases like HIV especially those who use the injection method, they might share needles and syringes with infected individuals (Michael, 2001). It is difficult to stop the illicit trade of cocaine because it widely available and highly used through out the state, especially the powdered and crack one. However, the crack cocaine is more common in large metropolitans’ areas like phoenix and Tucson. The Mexican criminal groups control the exportation of cocaine to Arizona. They smuggle it through of between the US and Mexico boarder. Once in Arizona, the Hispanic street gangs and African American or the dealers of Caucasian independent control the retail trade of the powdered cocaine while the Africa American and Hispanic Street gangs and independent dealers control the distribution of the crack cocaine. These groups have collaborated with the major cartels from Mexico to help in the distribution of the substances that they export. The revenue earned from the sale of cocaine depends on such factors as the quantity, market and so on. For example, if the traders sell in Western and Central Europe, they can make twice the amount they would make in the United States. This is based on the market. However, they prefer to trade in United States because of the high demand hence the quantity of the commodity sold will be more that those sold in the other places. The flow of the produce will also be constant. This is why Mexicans prefer carrying out their illicit business in United States and they try all the possible ways to ensure that the substance is available and successfully transported (Bagley & Walker, 2004). Conclusion Drug trafficking is an issue which affects most of the nations in the world. This is because everybody is trying all ways to fight the financial crisis. The business is more profitable compared to others and most of the operators are well known Billionaires. Mexico City is the leading in the operation although not in consumption and production of some of these substances. Due to its location, it acts as a link between most of the trading nations or organization. For example, the Colombia traders pass by Mexico as they transport their illegal substances to United States. These organizations had to partner and influence the residents of Mexico so as to make their operations successful. These and other traffickers have highly influenced the Mexicans and at the end of it almost all the illegal substances are available in the market. Mexico is well established hence it is easier for people to try all means to succeed in the operation without being caught by the police or any authority. They are also able to gang their solders to fight the anti-drug organizations. Cocaine is most consumed hence the demand is high, thus the operation is fast growing especially in Mexico. Bibliography Columbia University. School of International Affairs, 2007, Drug trafficking, Journal of international affairs, 35(2) 123-134. United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention,2001, Drug trafficking: Human smuggling ; Corruption ; Organized crime ; Gender and mafiosi ; Female law enforcement ; New United Nations instrument against transnational organized crime, Forum on crime and society, 1(2) 22-45. Edberg C., 2009, Essential Readings in Health Behavior: Theory and Practice, Essential public health, 2(3) 14-27.. University of Miami. North-South Center, 2006, Drug trafficking, Sociological abstracts, 5(40) 251-251.. Bagley M., 2009, Drug trafficking research in the Americas, An annotated bibliography, 1(2) 23-27. Abadinsky H., 2007, Drug Use and Abuse: A Comprehensive Introduction, Cengage Learning, California.. LaMond F., 2009, Handbook of research on the illicit drug traffic: socioeconomic and political consequences, University of Michigan, Michigan. Michael S., 2001, Concise encyclopedia of Mexico, Taylor & Francis, Mexico. Bagley M., & Walker O., 2004, Drug trafficking in the Americas, University of Miami, North-South Center, Miami. Read More