Drug Cartels

Nestor Hernandez

The drug cartels are destroying Mexico. As a result, the economy is in bad shape and innocent people are dying. The government is not performing its job efficiently therefore the country is falling apart.

Mexico’s economy depends heavily on tourism, but since drug cartels have taken over, tourism has reduced dramatically. People from the United States, Canada and other Europeans nations for whom Mexico was their favorite place to visit are now afraid to go there.  They fear for their lives and choose to go somewhere else thus affecting Mexican tourism.

Another issue with the drug cartels is that they kill anybody that gets on their way.  In the last two years more than 28, 000 people have been murdered (NY times Jun, 3 2010) by cartel members in the city of Juarez alone. This is an alarming amount for a city of its size.  Recently 72 people were shot and killed. They were migrants coming to the United States illegally. According to Mexican officials, they were murdered because they refused to participate in illegal activities related to drugs (El Paso Times Aug 26, 2010). The governments of Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador were upset at the Mexican government because of their inefficiency in combating drug cartels. The migrants were mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador and Brazil.  The drug cartels have become such a problem that is affecting other nations as well.

There have been reports liking police officers to collaborating with drug cartels because of their low salary. They need money to survive and if the government pay is not enough, then their other choice is to turn to corruption. This is what is contributing to the chaos in Mexico. (CNN Aug 2010). Police officers and town mayors have linked to have some affiliation with drug cartels.

Felipe Calderon, the current president of Mexico, has spoken to his people telling them, that he will do everything in his power to better the situation. In his past speeches, he has said “the government would press ahead in its military led battle against drug cartels”. The death toll is increasing every year. This proved that his strategy is not is not working. He needs to come up with a different plan. A good example that Mexican citizens are turning their backs on the government is the 20 year old police chief who was hired recently in Juarez.  She said “my job will not be to fight drug cartel because that’s the responsibility of the organs of governments.’ (msnbc, Oct, 20, 2010).  I agree with her statement because she is being brave by taking this positions that nobody wanted because they were scared.  She alone can’t make a difference. She needs help from the federal government and hopefully she gets the help because she has taken a risk that many could not handle.

The Mexican media is doing a great in reporting on drug cartels. They are also too graphic by showing dead bodies of dismembered people.  This sends a message to the government that they need to do something about because it is affecting the lives of Mexican citizens.  Based on the information I found I sincerely think that Mexican government lack of efficiency when it comes to dealing with drug cartels. The president has said that he is trying to control this problem but it doesn’t seem like it because innocent people are still dying at the hands of these criminals. The U.S government has spent a lot of money trying to combat drug cartels but has little or no result. An estimated 25 billion dollars is destined to fight drug related activities as pointed out by the secretary of state Hilary Clinton. She stated “Our Insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade”.(Washington Post March 26, 2010)  All of this money is being wasted because in the last two years things have gotten worst. I think that the Mexican government as well as US government should make this war on drugs, one  of their priorities in their agenda. If the government doesn’t stop them who will? I think a possible solution to this problem would if the Mexican government hires a group of well trained officials from the U.S to specifically hunt and incarcerate these individuals. If this is not enough then the U.N has to step in and help the Mexican government because clearly it is out of their hands. Drug cartels are too powerful; they even have better and advanced weapons than the Mexican army. Sooner or later the government has to stop this or will cease to exist because drug cartels will run Mexico.