In today’s society Mexico and Colombia, are related the majority of the time to illegal drugs, cartel wars, money, violence, capos, and death. Sadly, even though this problem has been around for a long period of time, for the past couple of years this issue has increased considerably in most countries that are related to illegal drugs. When a product, like drugs, shows a sign of being banned from a state or country, other nations can take advantage of using this reasoning to get the most of it. In this case Mexico due to its proximity to the place that has one of the highest consumption rates, creates and easy environment to build illicit empires. These criminal organizations are called cartels that not only produce and deliver the merchandise, …show more content…
Some people get in because of the scarcity of resources to survive. When countries like Mexico and Colombia have a lack of economic opportunities, they are more susceptible to fall in “The origins of drug trafficking in Mexico date to the late eighteenth century. As prohibitions tightened in the 1920s and the focus of enforcement shifted from public health to public security, the illicit market became increasingly linked to the political system under the control of the ruling PRI…” (2009, Snyder and Duran Martinez). The PRI is the Mexican political party that ruled over seventy years and it has always been linked to corruption, violence and fraud. When these criminal systems have inside people in the government, it creates an easy way for the criminals to operate illicit activities. Not only in Mexico tried to infiltrate in the government but Colombia as well. “The inability of the Medellin traffickers to penetrate the political establishment became evident in 1982, when Escobar was elected to represent Medellin in the Lower Chamber of Congress.” (2009, Snyder and Duran Martinez). Pablo Escobar was the maximum exponent of this industry in Colombia. His Mexican homologue Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (“el chapo”), is drug lord who leads the Sinaloa
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
In the Documentary “Mexico’s Drug Cartel War”, it displays a systematic approach of drugs and violence. The Drug War has been going on since the United States had a devastating impact on Mexico after the recession where it nearly doubled its interest payments. Mexico could not afford the interest payments but did have many agricultural imports. This created the trade between the United States and the land owned by the two million farmers. It spread the slums to Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez to work in maquiladoras (assembly plants just across the border) (Jacobin, 2015). This paper will focus on explaining how drugs are related to violence in Mexico, how drug enforcement policies influence the relationship between drugs and violence, and how battle for control in their own country.
The business process of the Mexican drug cartels is not easy, but is a very simple method. Step one is the drugs are produced in Mexico. Step two is the drugs are smuggled across the boarder. Step three is the drugs are distributed to the drug dealers in the U.S. Step four are the drug dealers sell the drugs and U.S. cash dollars are made. It is a simple four-step method, but the process of the four steps comes with a lot of trouble, risk, and violence.
The Influence of the Mexican Cartels in the United States Visiting a tourist attraction in Mexico, tourists do not realize the gruesome reality that Mexican civilians face on an everyday basis. Dead bodies cover the streets, the echo of gun shots ring through the streets daily, and seeing the cartels terrorize businesses. The rise of Mexico’s violence in the past decade has marked the country and made its way to the United States. The United States has ignored the problem for many years, since they always referenced Mexico’s drug crisis as a non-emergent issue. In the past decade the U.S. government has seen an increase in violence and consumption of illegal drugs due to the Mexican cartels.
The cartels are now in control of most of the drug trades and are successful. The Mexican border gives them the power to go everywhere they desire, making them a relentless force. “To date operation Xcellrator has led the arrest of 755 individuals and the seizure of approximately 5 U.S. Currency more than 12,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 11,000 of methamphetamine, more than 8 kilograms of heroin, approximately 1.3 million pills of ecstasy”(Doj 2). Mexican cartels extend to central and southern America. Columbia is the supply of much of the cocaine exported to the U.S. Colombia is under control of South American gangs, they do business with the Mexican cartels to transport drugs the north. The Northern Mexican gangs hold the most control because the territory is very important (Wagner1). They are many different types of cartel in Mexico it also signifies that there are killing each other so their cartel can expand an...
The war over drug routes and power between rival cartels has left Mexico in a bloody war. The violence occurring throughout the country only seems to escalate. In part, the United States has a role in this war because of the exploitation of weapons. Unfortunately, a lot of people are being killed every day because of the drug war. Action from Mexico must be taken swiftly to avoid any further casualties by collaborating with the United States on how to stop the smuggling of guns, building trust between the community and the police, and deciding on a plan to the help the economy for their citizens.
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...
Beith, Malcolm. “The Current State of Mexico’s Many Drug Cartels.” Insight Crimes. n.p., 25 Sep.
Human Trafficking in Mexico Slavery has occurred for the past hundreds of years, it’s still occurring in the 21st century. The name that people have for slavery in modern day is human trafficking; it is one of the top crimes in Mexico. Not only are the people that are being trafficked victims, the families of these people will never see each other again. Trafficking in Mexico has become popular with the drug cartels and they are starting to rely on trafficking as their main source of income, such as the Zetas. These problems have caused pain for many in Mexico and even in the U.S. because of the shared border and some U.S. citizens have lost some of their loved ones because of the trafficking, this is the reason that the U.S. should get involved and help Mexico.
Mexican Americans have quickly risen to become the majority population in the United States. The Mexican American population has grown so much due to the mass migrations they make from Mexico into the U.S. About 33.7 million Hispanics of Mexican origin reside in the U.S. as of 2012 (Pew Hispanic Center, 2013). Mexican Americans are considered the largest Hispanic origin population, making up two thirds of the whole Hispanic population to reside in the United States. As of 2010, 32 million Hispanics are Mexican American, with 11.7 million immigrants born in Mexico and 22.3 million being born in the U.S. (Pew Hispanic Center, 2013). Today, there are about 52% of Hispanics born in the U.S that have a least
“Mexican smugglers have long trafficked homegrown heroin and marijuana to the U.S. But in the 1980’s, Mexico also became the primary route for Colombian cocaine bound for the U.S” (Bates). According to Bates, when Guadalajara’s leader was arrested in 1989, the groups remaining capos, including a young Guzman, divided up its trafficking routes, creating the Sinaloa, Juarez, and Tijuana Cartels. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, age 56, is responsible for half the illegal narcotics that are imported into the U.S. each year. “El Chapo” meaning shorty, is believed to be the world’s most powerful drug lord.
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.
Drug trafficking has been a massive concern between the borders of Mexico and the U.S. “since mid 1970s” (Wyler, 1). Drug trafficking is “knowingly being in possession, manufacturing, selling, purchasing, or delivering an illegal, controlled substance” (LaMance, 1). A dynamic relationship exists amongst Columbia, Mexico, and the U.S. the informal drug trafficking economy. This growing informal drug economy leads to many individuals creating a substantial living through this undercover market. These individual drug cartels monopolizing the trafficking market are a growing problem for the U.S economy and need to be located and controlled. If this trafficking continues, the U.S. informal economy will crush the growth of legal industries. The trafficking and abuse of drugs in the U.S. affects nearly all aspects of consumer life. Drug trafficking remains a growing issue and concern to the U.S. government. The U.S. border control must find a way to work with Mexico to overpower the individuals who contribute to the drug trafficking business. This market must be seized and these individuals must be stopped.
Many people know of cartels and drug trafficking, however, they do not realize how serious of a problem it is becoming. Every day there are hundreds of drugs transported into the United States from Latin America, mostly coming from Mexico and Columbia. These cartels are becoming smarter and more creative with their ways of smuggling drugs. They have become ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get their supplies into the country. To better understand how cartels work, you must understand their ways of transporting drugs and how creative they have become with it. Cartels will go as far as using tunnels, boats, planes, vehicles, donkeys and mules to transport all of their drugs.