The Drug War

Notice that I didn't title the post "The War on Drugs."  That is another issue, for another time.

The purpose of this post is to compile information about the "The Drug War."  By that, I mean the fighting that goes on among the cartels to our south.  I have only read sporadic articles regarding this issue, so will not draw many conclusions.  Rather, this will serve as a forum where I can raise questions, and try to seek answers.

The reason that I chose to deal with this topic this morning is due to this article I found on CNN's website:  Police: American-born drug kingpin arrested in Mexico.

The title alone got me thinking.  How many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans do you hear about going home without ICE agents leading the way?  Most that I meet are here for legitimate economic opportunities that don't exist in their home country.  I had to click and learn more.

It turns out, the story isn't all that exciting.  But, I did come across a line in the article that got the wheels in my head churning.

"Beltran's brother Carlos was arrested, leaving Valdez in a fight to fill a power vacuum in one of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels."

All three of the names mentioned in this sentence have been the "kingpin" of a particular Mexican drug gang, known as the Leyva cartel, within the past year.  Basically, the police catch or kill one, and another steps up to take his place.  Sure, there may be some in-fighting for a while after the last leader falls: a merge of cartels here, a break-up there.  But, in the end, these men are playing a game with authorities that they know they will always win.  It is worth the risk to them to face bullets and jail for the money that can be made.  There is job security in being in a cartel.  There will always be another guy ready and willing to step up and be the boss.   Just don't get killed or caught.

Which leads me to my first questions of this post:  What counter-tactics could law enforcement agencies employ to effectively eliminate or subvert drug cartels in Mexico?  Furthermore, is it even possible to do so, or is a better approach humanitarian?  Is legalization of all drugs the only answer?  Are these men only doing this because there is no other paying job in Mexico, or is the chance to advance to "kingpin" and make the big bucks that good because the turn-over rate is so insanely high? 

Lots of questions...more than I expected when I started brainstorming.  I will watch for answers as I continue surfing the web.  If any of my faithful readers have any thoughts, feel free to leave comments.
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9/21
Mexican newspaper to cartels: 'We do not want more deaths'

I feel for the people of Ciudad Juarez.  I really do.  I can't imagine living in a town so ravaged by constant violence.  However, I don't think an editorial in the towns most popular newspaper, El Diario, is going to solve the problem.

Cartel members do not care about editorials.  They do not care about the journalist's who pen them.  Their only interest in the photographer, the cartel's latest victim, was most likely his profession.  Photographs are a direct threat to drug smugglers work.  They provide solid proof of illegal activity.

Unfortunately, in this case I think the newspaper should consider protecting it's employees lives, more than continuing to practice good journalism.  The conditions in Ciudad Juarez are like a war zone, and normal business practices cannot apply,.  El Diario, translated into The Diary, needs to learn to operate more secretively.  They should even consider seeking political asylum, and moving their base across the border.  Their intentions seems pure, but the enemy they are dealing with could care less.
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9/23
Mexico plans to protect journalists (MSNBC)

After the death or disappearance of over 25 journalists in the past four years, Mexico is planning to implement a new strategy to protect them.

"The plan includes an early warning system in which reporters would have immediate access to authorities when threatened, the creation of a council to identify the causes behind attacks on reporters, legal reforms, and a package of 'best practices' in journalism, according to a statement from Calderon's office."

I am skeptical.  But, considering the success of similar tactics in Columbia, also hopeful.
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9/24
Mexican mayor slain in drug-plagued state

The mayor of Monterrey was murdered this morning.  Sadly, he is not the first to perish in northern Mexico as a result of the drug war.

"Gunmen killed another Monterrey area mayor in August after. In June, gunmen killed the leading gubernatorial candidate in neighboring Tamaulipas state. A mayoral candidate was slain there in May. A mayor in San Luis Potosi state was killed this month."
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10/16
Italy Arrests Alleged Dangerous 'Ndrangheta Mobsters  (Time, by Stephan Faris, 7/13/2010)
Italy Braces for a New Mafia War  (Time,  by Stephan Faris, 10/14/2010)

While perusing Time's website, I came across the two above linked articles.  With so much media focus on the drug war closer to home, I guess I had forgotten that the Mafia is still active in Italy.  As I read about the 'Ndrangheta crime family from southern Italy, I was struck by the similarities they have with Mexican and South American cartels .

1.  Both have centralized power structures that are nearly impossible to infiltrate.

"'The 'Ndrangheta almost only spreads through the growth of the natural family,' says Francesco Forgione, the former head of Italy's antimafia commission, a fact that he says makes the group's tightly bound members difficult to flip. 'You'd have to turn in your brother-in-law, your son, your nephew,' he says. 'It just wouldn't happen.'"

2.  Both use drugs to make ridiculous amounts of money.

"Little-known outside of Italy, the ['Ndrangheta} criminal syndicate is considered the most dangerous in the country, teaming up with Colombian cocaine producers to control a large share of the European cocaine trade and its annual turnover of $55 billion, equivalent to roughly 3% of the Italian economy."

In Mexico, domestic dependency on cocaine, as well as export revenues from shipments of crystal meth and marijuana to the U.S makes joining cartels one of the best business decisions available to young men in Mexico.

3.  And both are using extreme tactics to try to intimidate law enforcement agencies from attempting to capture them.  Take this example from Italy:

"Last week, the threats ticked up another notch, when police responded to an anonymous phone call, in which a man's voice promised a 'surprise' for Giuseppe Pignatone, the city's chief prosecutor. Outside the courthouse, under an abandoned mattress, lay an unloaded bazooka."

It seems that the theory expounded by Guy Lawson on Morning Joe regarding Mexican drug cartels, may hold true in for the Italian Mafia as well.  When the "top guys" are arrested or killed, the "tough guys" and "punks" take over, and confrontations escalate.
 
In Italy, prosecutors have had a windfall of success, with the arrest of 300 members of the notorious syndicate known as the 'Ndrangheta this past July.  But their cases rely on evidence obtained through wiretaps, and issue as contentious in Italy as it is in the U.S., so further arrests may not be possible. 

"Though the controversial law makes exceptions for cases involving terrorism and organized crime, prosecutors worry that its tougher standards of evidence and tight time limits could nonetheless make investigations of the kind that bore fruit on Tuesday harder to carry out."

Which leads me to wonder if similar measures may help us battle the criminal activity plaguing our southern border.
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NYT Mexico watching Calif. marijuana vote  (NYT via MSNBC, by Randal C. Archibold, 10/17/2010)

The above linked article does a decent job of exploring the possible repercussions for the Mexican side of the border should California's referendum to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana be voted into law.  I have often read that the legalization of pot, even hard drugs like cocaine and heroine, would not end the mafia-style criminal activity in Mexico.  But Mr. Archibold's phrasing on the subject is worth quoting:

"[T]here is the likelihood that any curb on the drug markets would drive the cartels to expand their increasingly diverse rackets in smuggling, extortion and kidnapping."

He is correct in identifying the cartels as business organizations, who will simply invest more heavily in other portions of their already diversified portfolio.   Furthermore, I agree with his analysis of Mexico's poor reputation as a regulator, but would only counter that our own FDA's facade of safety and efficiency is just that; a facade.

The final take-away I got from the article would probably surprise Mr. Archibold.  As I scribbled my final analysis down in my notepad, as I always do after reading a story, I found myself asking a most paradoxical question:  What are the chances that drug trade could reverse?  If the U.S. beats Mexico by years in ending the ridiculous prohibition on drugs, isn't it possible that the supply chain could completely change?  We are already supplying the cartels with their AK-47's.  Perhaps over the next decade we will be providing them with hydroponics too.
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10/20
The opening paragraphs of the article though predictable, are still heartbreaking:

"When Gustavo Sánchez became mayor in January of Tancítaro, in the heart of Mexico's drug country, he knew the job made him a target of the violent drug cartels that have been targeting elected officials.  A tae kwon do instructor, he liked to joke that he had assembled a city council full of fighters.  'The fear is always there,' he told The Arizona Republic in January. 'But if you have courage and a desire to make a contribution, that outweighs the fear.'  Last week, Sánchez's body was found by the side of a road, his head bashed in with rocks, his hands tied behind him. There were signs of torture"
Source:  11 Mexican mayors murdered this year  (AztecCentral.com, by Chris Hawley, 10/8/2010)

No one can say for sure why drug cartels are showing such a blatant disrespect for the lives of government officials and police offices.  Some of the murders may be acts of revenge, but I believe a vast majority are simply brutal forms of intimidation.  Just like the first paragraphs of the article, the final line, a quote from Criminology professor Dante Horo, is worthy of being quoted:

"'Before, it used to be an attractive job, living on the public payroll,' he said. 'Now being a town mayor is very difficult, not just because of the economic problems but also this issue of obedience to organized crime.'

Getting elected now, he said, 'is like winning a tiger in a raffle.'"
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I was directed to the article discussed above via a different story I found on the Upshot, a Yahoo News blog.  The headline alone left me flabbergasted:  College student named police chief in Mexico; no one else applied.* The story itself is pretty much told by the headline, and unfortunately my Spanish is too poor to be able to decipher much from the other linked articles. 

* (by Liz Goodwin, 10/20/2010)
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11/5
I found this interesting tidbit in a briefing from Time Magazine's Nov. 15, 2010 issue:

"The most surprising element of a recent drug raid in Afghanistan wasn't the discovery of four opium-refining laboratories or the confiscation of more than 2,000 lb. of heroin but the participation of four Russian narcotics agents.  They joined with Afghan and U.S. forces, a sign of Moscow's increased concern over Afghan drugs and a willingness to help NATO stabilize the region."

This is the first Russian involvement in Afghanistan since 1989.
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11/6
Top cartel leader killed in Mexican border city clash  (CNN, 11/6/2010)

"The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College canceled classes through Saturday and said it would rework several weekend events 'because of gunfire taking place across the Rio Grande.'"  The fighting was fierce, but Mexican authorities did eventually get their man.  "Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, known as 'Tony Tormenta' or 'Tony the Storm, was killed in the shootout Friday, Mexican military officials said in a statement."  But the authorities paid a high price.  "Three naval officers were killed and four others were injured."

I couldn't imagine going to The University of Texas at Brownsville.  I would constantly fear violence spilling across the border into one of my lecture halls, or a stray bullet flying through a dorm room window. 
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12/30
Countless Juarez residents flee 'dying city'  (Yahoo via AP, by Will Weissert, 12/29/2010)

An emergency census is being conducted in Juarez, Mexico to determine how many of its 1.4 million citizens have fled.  Estimates range from 110,000-230,000.  Over 3,000 people have been killed there this year alone, and 6,000 business have hung up the closed sign for good.  Soon, the drug cartels will have to extort money from each other, because there will not be anyone left in Juarez providing services.
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1/14
Cruise lines flee California ports  (MSNBC, 1/14/2011)

I haven't written on this thread for a while, not because nothing is happening, but because simply quoting the newest statistics for beheadings, torture victims, and gunshot wounds gets redundant.  But this morning, I found a story that demonstrates how these heinous acts impact unexpected industries.  The article linked above is about the cruise industry, more specifically, how big-name carriers, like Carnival, are pulling out of California ports.  While other seaside areas are beginning to recover from the economic downturn, the ports in California have not been so fortunate.  This is because tourists are leery about traveling to Mexico due to the uptick in drug-related violence in recent years.  Even though most of the murders do not involve tourists, they occur very close to major cruise destinations like Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta.  Constantly seeing bloodshed across the border does not appeal to someone seeking a vacation-destination.
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1/27/2011
Drug catapult discovered on Mexico border  (MSNBC, video)

The above linked video, shot in night-vision, appears to show masked men catapulting something over the border fence.  As I have said many times before in debates on this issue and immigration, borders are by their very nature porous.  Folks will always find a means to break through them.  How long until we find video footage of people being catapulted over the border fence with little parachutes strapped to their backs?  Or maybe women in labor?
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2/1
Republican lawmakers paying for tough crime laws  (MSNBC, by Sean Murphy, 2/1/2011)

I love the above linked article because it is absolute proof that the drug war needs to end for purely economic reasons.  Last year, our prison systems saw a decrease in the number of inmates it holds for the first time in 40 years.  At the same time, many cities forced prison guards to take extra time off each month just to meet payroll requirements.  Why, you wonder are our prisons so full, and our system so broke?  Nonviolent offenders, like marijuana smokers and dealers, are draining the correctional system of pinch-able pennies. 

I love this quote from Oklahoma Senator Harry Coates (who ran on a slogan of "Lock 'em up and throw away the key!") so much I may have to plaster it on my wall:

"'Truthfully, it's popular to be tough on crime...But when I saw what we were spending on corrections and who was going into our adult prisons and for what reasons, you figure out it's not exactly like you thought,'"

Now, if they would just legalize drugs altogether, and treat addiction as an illness, the costs could be shifted to the proper sector; health care. 
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2/9
NYT:  Addicts shoot up at 'safe injection site'  (by Donald G. McNeil, Jr.)

Because it makes it easier for social conservatives to continue their web of deceit about addictive substances, they often underestimate, or completely ignore the link between health issues like HIV and heroin use.  In the above linked article, McNeil describes how one clinic in Vancouver has proven that nurse-supervised injection sites can have a positive impact of the health of the community at large, while saving Vancouver's residents substantial amounts of money in terms of health care and law enforcement.  The program has proven so successful that 17 other Canadian cities have endorsed the program, and are looking to open similar injection sites in their own areas.  The only things preventing them from doing so are the national narcotic laws currently in place in Canada, and their wacko right wing backers.
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6/2/2011
'Global war on drugs has failed' key panel says  (MSNBC.com, by staff, 6/2/2011)

"Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won."

The problem, in America at least, is every time a rational individual stands up and voices these facts, he is bashed into submission by the moral, and vocal, right.   Instead of recognizing the horrible global consequences our drug war has caused, they focus only upon the fact that they think drugs are wrong.  It strikes me as odd that the party that wants government out of the lives of the people are the same ones that continually sanction the police to arrest Americans who are seeking their right to liberty and happiness.

I believe a state by state end to criminalization may eventually lead to a bill being introduced at the federal level.  But, given the strong animosity the two parties currently have for each other, I do not foresee the cooperation necessary to pass such a measure anytime in the near future.