Monday, June 23, 2008
U.S.
Drug Demand Unleashes a Bloodbath in Mexico
By Jerry Brewer
By virtually every measure of
the definitions of the word "terrorism," terrorism has clearly reached our southern border. There should be no confusion as
to said fact. Too, it is abundantly clear that this enemy is not and does not have to have Middle Eastern connotations such
as radical Islamic fundamentalists.
What brings this version of terrorism
to the southern United States border?
The issue emphatically is control
of the source of drugs and the supply chain that delivers drugs to retail customers in the United States. A voracious U.S.
drug habit of nearly US$60 billion annually is the catalyst for the ritual slaughter throughout Mexico, especially along its
northern border.
The many faces of terrorism have
commonalities. These are “criminal acts, including against civilians … with the purpose to provoke a state of
terror in the general public or [other] persons, intimidate a population or compel a government … to do or abstain from
doing any act…." (UN Security Council Resolution 1566)
The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center considers Mexican drug cartels as "dominating the U.S. illicit drug market." As an example, 90% of
the cocaine entering the United States transits Mexico. The Center believes that Mexican cartels control the transportation
and wholesale distribution of most illicit drugs in every area of the country except the northeast; "… and are expanding
there."
What is the real magnitude of
this violence?
Over 1,600 deaths so far this
year. Over 450 killed in Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas alone. The killings overall are up nearly 30 percent over
last year. Reports of the recent killing of a 12-year-old girl in downtown Juarez clearly demonstrates the "civilian" aspect
of terrorism defined.
The murder of innocents and civilians
are indeed significant, as well as cowardly. However, an especially frightening aspect to a nation to the north is the ritual
slaughter of policemen, senior police and other government officials, as well as media representatives. In May alone no fewer
than six senior police officials were killed. One of the strategic targets of the terrorist assassins was the head of the
Mexican federal police – the highest-ranking federal law enforcement officer in Mexico. The director of investigations
against organized crime for Mexico's state public security police (SSP) was killed as he returned to his home.
Weapons in many of these ritual
killings have been described as .380 caliber handguns fitted with a suppressor. This indicative of professionally targeted
assassination. Mexican official’s interrogation of one captured gunman "led to the recent arrest of five other hired
suspects allegedly tied to the assassination gang." As many as 40 gunmen from a rival organized crime drug cartel that attacked
and killed the son of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, were reported to have used AK-47 rifles and a
rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
President Felipe Calderon's counter-drug
offensive is showing good signs of progress. This indicated via the repositioning of cartels, ensuing violence, rising drug
prices and other signs of instability. A senior DEA administrator commented that agency officials believed there are "stockpiles
of cocaine in Colombia that they are afraid to send to Mexico because they have taken so many losses."
It is a tacit fact, given the
magnitude of violence, death, and supreme weaponry exhibited by the cartel terrorists that as long as there is a U.S. drug
demand yielding enormous wealth for the organized criminals, the border cannot and will not be sealed. Legalization will not
happen. Anti-drug efforts are far more proactive than increased levels of addiction and the social costs associated with such
a massive effort. Legalization in the U.S. failed miserably when Alaska experimented with it in the 1970s. Alaska's voters
were quick to vote no. Marijuana legalization in Holland has resulted in a tripling of heroin addiction.
Supporting a drug legalization
process also gives organized criminals, terrorists and assassins the message that intimidation via supreme weaponry, death,
and mayhem in killing those who make the laws and those who enforce them, makes them an instrument of the terrorists’
control.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations
are on U.S. soil. They have established a highly sophisticated smuggling infrastructure within. U.S. street gangs, prison
gangs, as well as outlaw motorcycle gangs are significant traffickers for the cartels. The astronomical amounts of U.S. currency
flowing south of the border back into Mexico are indeed blood money.
Mexico's fight against the drug
cartels faces a new threat. The "mega-cartel" is emerging as some rival factions fuse together in a show of superior power
against police. The United States must step up as a nation united in this most crucial fight in defense of two sovereign neighbors.
——————————
Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice
International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a guest columnist with MexiData.info.
