Part A: Criminal Violence in Mexico
Physical location of the conflict:
Criminal violence in Mexico occurs throughout Mexico and the Americas region. The northern half of Mexico has for sometime been considered a higher threat area for drug-related crime and violence due to organised criminal conflicts and competition for drug trafficking routes to the U.S. However, recent data show that violence is now also rising in the central and southern states of Mexico.
Major actors involved in the conflict:
The major players involved in the conflict are the main drug cartel groups that occupy different regions of Mexico (some of which are: La Familia Michoacán, the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, the Beltrán-Leyva Organization, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, and the Juárez Cartel) that cause most of the criminal violence in Mexico. Other key players include the institutions of the Mexican and U.S. government that oppose
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There is a low rate of criminal convictions meaning there is a high crime rate. Daily concerns for civilians are armed robberies, kidnappings, car thefts, credit card fraud and many different forms of residential crime. Criminals target anyone looking adequately vulnerable and lucrative. They are usually armed with handguns or knives, despite Mexico’s strict gun control laws. Organized crime also produces significant amounts of violence throughout the country. Routine displays of violence by gangs in Mexico are beheadings, lynching, torture and forced disappearances have become common. Journalists, bloggers, lawyers and police officers have been killed for reporting and investigating such incidents. In addition, gangs often charge protection fees or add their own tax to products and services, threatening violence if people don’t pay. Some criminal groups demand that individuals or whole communities work for them and threaten local governments to take up corrupt
Recent arrests and the diminished opportunity to forward cocaine to U.S had left them with the necessity to embark in kidnappings, auto thefts, extortion, murders for hire, human smuggling, and other felonies not to mention that local demand for narcotics had increased recently. The Tijuana Cartel operations extents from the U.S Mexico border across Central America through the Pacific Route and receives support of one of most violent criminal organizations: Los
Sixteen are killed from the Mexican attack along the Rio Grande! In 1821, Mexico freed itself from Spain. Mexico was equal in size to the United States. Mexican government wanted to increase population, so they invited Americans to settle in Texas. These settlers did not want to abide by Mexico’s rules and laws. Texas then won independence from Mexico in 1836. In the year 1844, James K. Polk was elected as president. He was a strong believer in manifest destiny. Congress decided to annex Texas into the United States. Mexico felt that America stole Texas from them. This caused conflict between the two countries. Was it right for the United States to declare war against Mexico? America was justified in going to war with Mexico because they could
The exponential growth of gangs in the Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) has led to an epidemic of violence across the region. The two largest and most formidable gangs in the Northern Triangle, the Mara Salvatrucha-13 (MS-13) and the Barrio 18, wage battles against one another to control territory and defend against incursions. In 2011, Honduras led the world in homicides, with 91.6 per 100,000 people; rates were also alarmingly high in El Salvador and Guatemala, at 69.1 and 38.5 per 100,000 people, respectively. In El Salvador, a country with a population of only 6.2 million people, 4,354 were the victims of homicide in 2011 alone, with the Catholic Church estimating that more than 1,300 of these deaths were the direct result of gang violence.
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.
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.
Culture is customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. It includes behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people to sustain their lives. Mexican culture is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. Today life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the Mexican living in the city. In the United States Mexican includes any person of Puerto
They face many issues such as economic instability, depression, loneliness, fear of being alone and feeling betrayed. Children feel depressed in cases like this because even at a young age they know that things are not okay. They also suffer from fear and being betrayed, they suffer fear because they 're scared of what is going to happen to their family since they 're so used to having their family together. Many times children who face this situations feel like they’ve been betrayed because they don’t know why their mother or father have gone away and not came back. The psychologist mentions that it’s very normal for children to feel this way and conduct a different behaviour than usual because just like everyone else they don’t seem to understand
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.
I was born in Mexico and raised in beautiful San Diego since the age of four. Coming to the United States at a very young age I had to face many challenges that have shaped me to the person that I am today. I consider myself a Chicana woman who has overcome the obstacles to get were I am know. Being raised in a Mexcian household has thought me to embrace my culture and its roots. The Spanish and native blood that is with in me remind me of many Americans today. The reason I consider my self Chicana is because of the similar background that I shared with many Americans today. Living in the U.S. I have learned to adapt and embraced the American culture so much so that it came a point of life were I struggled to find my own identity. Taking
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.
For many years, unjust treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans has occurred in the United States. Over the years, people like Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Emma Tenayuca have fought to improve civil rights and better treatment for farm workers. The textbook that I have been reading during the semester for my Chicano History class, Crucible of Struggle: A history of Mexican Americans from Colonial times to the Present Era, discusses some of the most important issues in history that Mexicans and Mexicans Americans have gone through. Some of these problems from the past are still present today. Not all of the racial problems were solved, and there is a lot to be done. I have analyzed two different articles about current historical events that have connections between what is happening today and what had happened in Mexican American History.
Beith, Malcolm. “The Current State of Mexico’s Many Drug Cartels.” Insight Crimes. n.p., 25 Sep.
What is culture? Many people ask themselves this question every day. The more you think about it the more confusing it is. Sometimes you start leaning to a culture and then people tell you you’re wrong or they make you feel like a different person because of your culture. I go through this almost every day. Because of the way I was raised I love Mexican rodeo but I was born and raised in Joliet. This can be very difficult trying to understand culture. I live in this huge mix of culture. Culture is personal. People can have many cultures especially in America and because of globalization. Cultural identity is not one or the other, it is not Mexican or American. Cultural identity is an individual relevant thing.
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.
"For the commercial insurgency, border controls are perfunctory in "free trade" areas, and there is still a great demand for goods that are linked to smuggling" (PRISM Issue No 3). President Calderon's term in office has seen numerous arrests and significant cooperation with U.S. law enforcement, and intelligence activities, which has negated the freedom of movement the cartels once enjoyed. It has also prompted them to seek other venues to keep their revenue flowing. The arrests aren't without criticisms. Due to recent arrests of ...