Mexico is a country rich in tradition, history and culture. Unfortunately, Mexico has not been talked about for any of those descriptions I mentioned above lately. Mexico has become a country full of death and violence. The Mexican government has been fighting a war with drug traffickers since December 2006. At the same time, drug cartels have fought each other for control of territory. More than 60,000 people have been killed (CNN). Despite the “war” launched at these multi-billion dollar organized crime groups, Mexico has not been able to stop its slide as a failed state. Almost every day there seems to be either dead bodies lying on the ground, a school closed due to vandalism, disappeared people, or bullet-riddled houses and cars. Sadly, there is not much the citizens of Mexico can do to ask for justice and change to the mess they are living in right now. So who is to blame for all of this? The Mexican drug cartels have completely taken over Mexico. They have become powerful through corruption and violence. The cartels use their power to intimidate and even murder anyone who tries to get in their way. They do not have a problem with decapitating heads in order to make a statement. The drug cartels also use their money to gain power. Given the amount of money they have, the cartels have millions of dollars invested in keeping authorities off their business. They can be very effective in bribing government officials at all levels, from border patrol just patrolling the border to state and high ranking federal officials. Given the resources they have, they can reach out and kill government officials at all levels. Since government officials are faced with bribes and or certain death, even the most unbreakable are caut... ... middle of paper ... ...erms but as a way of integrating into society. Because the economy is so poor in Mexico the only apparent chance of becoming someone in Mexico is by getting involved in organized crime. From this article, I got valuable information which shows that drugs are taking over Mexico through corruption and money, which apparently is more important than education and providing jobs for the people. I believe this source will provide me with an insight as to how drugs run Mexico. It also shows me how the economy plays and important role in recruiting of the youth into organized crime, which will be a good addition to add into my project. This article comes from a respected site so the credibility checks out, it is also within my time frame pertaining to my project. The author was biased in believing that the education system was to blame for the current state of Mexico.
A drug cartel is a combination of drug manufacturing and drug transportation organizations under one person’s leadership. While there is numerous drug cartels around the world the Mexican cartels have arguably more power than most in regards to territory and membership. This power has allowed them to have main control in not only Mexico but in the United States as well making them a key player in the drug trade. In 2006, the Mexican government challenged multiple drug cartels such as the Sinaloa cartel, The Los Zetas, and the Gulf cartel, beginning the Mexican Drug War. This war has gone on for the past ten years and is still continuing today, causing the death of 10,000 people a year on average. The Mexican Drug War is having a negative impact
Mexico’s drugs wars as well as bloody drug cartels are echoed in a controversial folk music genre commonly known as narco corridos or simply as drug ballads. They tell the stories allied to shootouts, drug lords, betrayals including daring criminal operations. Narco corridos are not a new style in Mexican music, in fact, they have been around for years, and they are popular among the old and the young. This genre has evolved to be modern fugitive music that fuses the emotional responses of antique ballads with the tense gravel of mobster rap. From global idols to rural artists documenting their neighborhood current events in the regions subjugated by guerilla war, narco corridos provides the songwriters in their homes with unique but artistic superiority, investigating the heartland of the infamous Mexican drug trafficking as well as publicizing municipal midpoints such as Los Angeles, in addition to Mexico City.
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
A. Attention Getter: A man 's face was found stitched on to a soccer ball, his body was found cut into 7 separate pieces in different locations with a single note that read "Happy new year because this will be your last". Headlines liked these are becoming much more common in Mexico, but who 's responsible for gruesome deaths like these? A drug war heavily lead by the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Mexican drug cartel has been estimated to have been profiting thirty billion dollars a year – yes, BILLION. The United States has also been estimated to generously have taken part in ten to anywhere up to possibly twenty-five of that thirty billion per year! That kind of money can make almost anyone contemplate if college is the right path for them. It also gives you a small understanding as to why some of these underprivileged people would even want to be involved with such a risky industry. As a horrible artist by the name of Macklemore once said “follow the formula: violence, drugs, and sex sells”, it’s only fitting that such a lucrative business like the cartel would be involved in all three of these things, right? The cartels involvements with violence, business industries, and political corruption have all affected the economy in Mexico.
This past decade Mexico has been known for having its massacre era, where civilians have been killed or marked by the drug cartels excessive power. The United States have been affected by having an increase of drug use and violence due to the Mexican cartels. The power of the cartels has stretched to the United States, where now the U.S. government has noticed the impact the drug war in Mexico is having over their country. With the hope to stop the war in Mexico, the U.S. has tried aiding civilian, capturing the kingpins in control, and legalizing marijuana to stop the violence.
Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that they overthrew the Mexican government.
When we hear discussions or read articles about drug wars, killings, and illegal immigration into the United States, many of us immediately think of Mexico. As a nation, Mexico is a much greater country than these commonly referred to issues. Mexico is a country with a broad history, deep family culture, and an economy fueled by oil and tourism. The United States Department of State (USDS) offers a broad range of information on countries outside the US, including Mexico. I found a wealth of information about Mexico through the USDS Background Note provided on their website located at www.state.gov. I will outline for you the key information found in this report, and others, related to the Mexican economy, culture, and more.
If one looks at statistical value of the deaths that occur occasionally, one can conclude that there is not enough being done to punish the Mexican cartels. The ones responsible to handle the arrest of such criminals are the police. There are possible reasons as to why law enforcement officers are not getting the job done. It can range from police corruption or to the idea that the police do not have what it takes to bring safety to the community. Trust is major factor for Mexican citizens who want to walk the streets and not fear that may be the last day on earth. The struggle for power is what prevents citizens from helping police and are scared to talk for fear of being targeted by the cartels or
Over the last several decades, violence has consumed and transformed Mexico. Since the rise of dozens of Mexican cartels, the Mexican government has constantly been fighting an ongoing war with these criminal organizations. The cartel organizations have a primary purpose of managing and controlling illegal drug trafficking operations in Central America and South America to the United States. Violence on a massive and brutal scale has emerged due to the nature of the illegal drug trade. Because the drug trade is vastly widespread, cartels are often fighting one another and competing in business. Mexican authorities count at least 12 major cartels, but also talk of an untold numbers of smaller splinter groups. (Taipei Times). Five cartels from Mexico have risen to become the extremely powerful amongst all the drug organizations operating in Mexico. The Guadalajara Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel. These organizations, along with other distinguished Mexican cartels, have plagued Mexico with violence, terror, and fear due to the essence and nature of illegal drug trafficking.
One of the biggest causes of drug trafficking is very futile economies where people are searching for ways to make money. Places with weaker economies, such as Mexico and Colombia, usually have a lot higher drug trafficking rates than places with strong economies. As I said before, it is believed that Mexico’s economy would shrink by over sixty-three percent if it wasn’t for drug trafficking. That in itself is enough to show how dependent some places are on drug trafficking. These areas don’t have the job opportunities that many places throughout the world have either because they don’t have good economies. This is beca...
The Mexican drug cartel is made up of many different cartels, but the main one is the Sinaloa cartel. The Sinaloa cartel is one of the most dangerous cartels in mexico, it is also the most optimistic cartel in mexico, they will go to high extents into their projects. The leader of the Sinaloa cartel is Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, he is believed to be one of the most powerful drug lords in the whole world. There aren’t many organizations trying to stop the cartels besides the DEA which stands for Drug Enforcement Administration. The drug cartel is all about smuggling drugs to many parts of the world but mostly the U.S. since they share borders and is the closest place to take drugs to.
The Mafia is a secret criminal organization that has great economic and political control over large parts of Sicilian society and operates both criminal and legitimate enterprises in the United States. It is believed to have started during Sicily's late Middle Ages, beginning as separate bonds of strong-arm enforcers hired by local landowners. It eventually evolved into a network of independent groups governing in rural areas. With the Sicilian immigration of the late 19th century, the Mafia began to operate in several large United States cities. During the period of Prohibition it monopolized the trade in bootleg liquor and controlled loan sharking, gambling, and prostitution. Competing Mafia families established mutually recognized territories, reaching agreement by negotiation or by intimidation. By the mid-1930 the Mafia had taken on the institutionalized structure that is now typical of organized crime in the United States.
These drug cartels are adapting to the loss of their much enjoyed freedom to move illegal drugs through Mexico and across the border into the United States. They are adapting by looking into new ways to make money such as: extortion, kidnapping, arms trafficking, murder for hire, and human trafficking. Many critics say these actions look a lot like diversifying their moneymaking interests.
For the 71 years that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was in power, Mexico saw great political, social and economic upheaval. This can be seen in the evolution of the PRI party, whose reign over Mexican society came at the expense of true democracy. “A party designed for power, the PRI's mechanisms for success involved a combination of repressive measures. The party professed no specific ideology, enabling it to adapt to changing social, economic and political forces over time. It attached itself virtually all aspects of civil society, and in this way, it become the political extension and tool of the government.” In 2000, however, the PRI’s loss of its monopoly on political power and institutional corruption gave rise to inter-cartel violence that was created in the political void left after the PAN won the national presidential election. These conditions gave rise to the Zetas: a new type of cartel that changed the operational structure of previous drug cartels. The Zetas operate in a new militant structure associated with a higher brand of violence, which has led it to branch out beyond a traditional drug smuggling enterprise common under the PRI government. Simply put, the electoral defeat of the PRI in 2000 was supposed to usher in a more democratic era in Mexican politics. Instead, the PRI party’s defeat created a state of chaos that gave rise to inter-cartel violence and the birth of the Zetas cartel.