The Mexican governments attempts to crackdown on the problem haven’t inspired confidence. President Felipe Calderón has promised to fight the cartels, giving the military an unprecedented role in the drug war. But this move has led only to more violence, increased corruption within the military, and emboldened traffickers. According to a report by the House Committee on Homeland Security, “At one time, members or associates of Mexican drug cartels would drop the drugs or abandon their vehicles when confronted by U.S. law enforcement.” But those good old days are gone:
“In today’s climate, U.S. Border Patrol agents are fired upon from across the river and troopers and sheriff’s deputies are subject to attacks with automatic weapons while the cartels retrieve their contraband. In May 2006, the Zapata County Sheriff’s Office received information that the cartels immediately across the border plan to threaten or kill as many police officers as possible on the United States’ side.”
Pouring taxpayer money into the problem seems fruitless. In 1999, Washington pledged over $6 billion to an initiative known as Plan Colombia, hoping to “reduce the production of illicit drugs (primarily cocaine) by 50 percent in 6 years.” Now that the money has been spent, the Government Accountability Office reports that in the years since Plan Colombia went into effect, “coca cultivation and cocaine production levels increased by about 15 and 4 percent, respectively.” This is why critics remain skeptical of the Merida Initiative, which calls for as much as $1.4 billion in aid to Mexico’s drug war efforts over the next three years. “It is the same old tactics and bogus solutions,” says Carpenter, adding that the only way to stop the drug lords from expanding their power is to eliminate the enormous profit margins created by the black market. Mexican officials have expressed an interest in drug legalization, but according to Carpenter, this would have little impact on the drug trade if the U.S. continued to pursue a prohibitionist strategy.
Drug legalization remains taboo in America, and the new administration is likely to pursue more conservative measures. But what it cannot escape is the fact that a serious crisis is brewing south of the border—one that is already causing terror in some of our cities. Throwing money at it, hoping it will go away, will not do this time. At a campaign stop in Miami in May, then-candidate Obama acknowledged, “It is time for us to recognize that the future security and prosperity of the United States is fundamentally tied to the future of the Americas.” Never was this more evident than in the case of Mexico, whose plague of organized crime is nearly as much our problem as theirs.
Constantino Diaz-Duran is a writer living in Manhattan. He has written for the New York Post, the Washington Blade, El Diario NY and the Orange County Register.
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
Joe Mathews is a journalist, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and a contributing writer at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as Justice Department reporter for the Wall Street Journal and as a city desk reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy.
Gerald Posner is the award-winning author of 10 investigative nonfiction bestsellers, ranging from political assassinations, to Nazi war criminals, to 9/11, to terrorism (www.posner.com). Posner lives in Miami Beach with his wife, the author Trisha Posner.
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
Renata Espinosa is the New York editor of Fashion Wire Daily. She is also the co-founder of impressionistic fashion and art blog TheNuNu and a sometimes backup dancer for "The Anna Copa Cabanna Show."
Amanda Fortini has written for The New Yorker, Slate, Elle, and New York, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles.
Constantino Diaz-Duran is a writer living in Manhattan. He has written for the New York Post, the Washington Blade, El Diario NY and the Orange County Register.
Constantino Diaz-Duran is a writer living in Manhattan. He has written for the New York Post, the Washington Blade, El Diario NY and the Orange County Register.
Constantino Diaz-Duran is a writer living in Manhattan. He has written for the New York Post, the Washington Blade, El Diario NY and the Orange County Register.
I have been in fear of this move up the IH35 corridor in Texas by these thugs for years and yet this issue is barely touched on by even the Texas media. You hardly ever hear Governor Perry talk about it, much less take any drastic measures, which is what it's going to take at this point.
I live in Texas, 20 miles west of IH35 and I'm all for the fence and anything else that will help keep these thugs out of here. I blame the coke heads here in the U.S. as well as the Mexico govt for not taking care of its people, ever.
Living in San Diego you learn that when the South Bay Hotels have no vacancy there is some operation or sting going on in TJ.
@lsquare
Yes, because if you raise the fence 2 feet higher, that will prevent people from crossing the border. Immigration clearly lies at the foundation of this country's ills.
And the war on drugs is clearly working. What do you think gives the mobs and drug lords so much power? Would they have the power they enjoy (and abuse) if the drugs were allowed to be legally exchanged as goods in the marketplace and traded in Mexico, in the U.S., and everywhere in between? There would be no NEED for the drug mob then. Pass it down this way, buddy.
What Mexico needs is to get rid of their corrupt government bureaucrats and establish the rule of law. Not an easy task, but that is the only thing that will solve the problem by getting to its core. Then we will all be better off.
I think lsquare is missing the point... as the expert quoted in the article says, the only real solution is to legalize drugs in the U.S. A wall won't do anything... They already build tunnels under the border!
oh, yeah... you kafirs deserve it, and until you learn that the root cause of this problem is the Drug War... it's going to continue. This unjust and illegal war causes more chaos than anything else in latin america... and the U.S. funds and supports this illegal activity; the blood is on the hands of those here that support this war, the U.S. is getting what it deserves. You will never be able to stop it with increased security and police, never... your ignorance fuels the violence.
"In today's climate, U.S. Border Patrol agents are fired upon from across the river and troopers and sheriff's deputies are subject to attacks with automatic weapons while the cartels retrieve their contraband. In May 2006, the Zapata County Sheriff's Office received information that the cartels immediately across the border plan to threaten or kill as many police officers as possible on the United States' side."
Good, kill as many of the kafir coppers as possible. History will show that these "evil cartels" are the ones (more or less) on the side of liberty. These infidel police in the US have no right to stop an individual from growing or smoking a plant that GAOTU allows to grow. It is a violation of liberty and the constitution. Death to the infidels! God sides with the cartels (for now).
it is out of control for the gvt in mexico, colombia, or any other country that either makes the drug or lets it go through to reach the US. i mean who can really fight this huge money-making machine (or industry as i see it)? has one country anywhere in the world successfully eradicated? it is time for people here in the US to take strong measures and do something about the use of drugs, the real origin of this problem.
dude, come on, people have opinions. you can't just pick comments so that things go your way.
Legalizing the drug trade is the only way. It's not even legalizing the drug trade - we already sell drugs in this country! What it really is is expanding regulation of recreational drug use. Alcohol and tobacco are incredibly dangerous and legal, but marijuana isn't? It's completely arbitrary and mindless. It's just sticking our head's in the sand and hoping the issue goes away. Or worse, investing more money in locking up people who are just trying to get high so that the people who actually sell the drugs and buy the guns can go on to create more fodder for the prison industrial complex. Ridiculous.
Thank you.
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