Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues
Mexican drug trafficking organizations make billions each year smuggling drugs into the United States, profiting enormously from the prohibitionist drug policies of the US government. Since Mexican president Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and called the armed forces into the fight against the so-called cartels, prohibition-related violence has killed more than 36,000 people, including more than 15,000 last year. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest or killing of dozens of high-profile drug traffickers have failed to stem the flow of drugs -- or the violence -- whatsoever. The Merida initiative, which provides $1.4 billion over three years for the US to assist the Mexican government with training, equipment and intelligence, has so far failed to make a difference. Here are a few of the latest developments in Mexico's drug war:
The busts and arrests go on, but so does the violence. (Image via Wikimedia)
In Sinaloa, eleven people were found buried in a field near the town of Ahome. It is unclear when the dead -- nine males and two females -- were killed, or by whom.
Wednesday, April 13
In Ciudad Juarez, the bodies of four men who were last seen being kidnapped by members of a special police unit were discovered in a ravine just outside the city. Three police officers from the elite "Grupo Delta" have been arrested for the March 26 kidnapping. The four victims are all between 23 and 28 years old.
In Monterrey, six people were killed during a fire fight between the Army and a group of gunmen. Five of the dead were armed suspects and one was an uninvolved female motorist who was killed in the crossfire. Additionally, an eight-year old girl was wounded in the legs when she was hit by stray bullets during the incident, which began when soldiers gave chase to two SUVs full of armed men.
Thursday, April 14
In Ciudad Juarez, a state prosecutor was gunned down outside his home by heavily armed men. Marion Ramon Gonzalez was leaving his home at 8:20am when he was attacked by men carrying assault rifles who had arrived in three black vehicles.
In Ciudad Juarez, three children were killed when unknown assailants threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of their home. The mother escaped the blaze with her hair and clothing on fire.
Friday, April 15
In Veracruz, a police chief and two of his officers were killed after being ambushed by gunmen. Juan Moreno Lopez was the head of the inter-municipal police force for the Minatitlan-Cosoleacaque area. The other two officers were his bodyguards. These deaths bring to nine the number of police officers killed in the Veracruz area in under a month.
Saturday, April 16
In Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexican marines captured a high-ranking Zeta who has been linked to the mass graves in the San Fernando area. Martin "Comandante Kilo" Estrada Luna was arrested along with five others during a raid. He has also been linked to the August 2010 murder of 72 migrants and is thought to be the Zeta commander responsible involved in drugs, extortion, and human trafficking activities in the area.
In Tepic, Nayarit, a man was found skinned and posed on a bridge in the city. This is the third case of someone being skinned in the last several weeks in Tepic. The victim -- who remains unidentified -- had had his hand cut off and left placed on his chest.
Sunday, April 17
In Acapulco, six men were discovered murdered in the popular resort area of Costa Azul. Two of the dead were discovered in a vehicle, and another two were discovered in a nearby alley. Two more were found not far away. A note left with the body indicated that the men had been killed by the Sinaloa Cartel.
In the nearby city of Chilancingo, a man was gunned down outside his home.
In Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, the top security official for the state resigned. Former General Ubaldo Ayala Tinoco had previously threatened to resign if the state government did not begin providing police with better salaries. Recently, 16 police officers were arrested for allegedly being involved with the mass graves that are still being fully uncovered in San Fernando, Tamaulipas.
In Ciudad Juarez, 14 people were murdered in various incidents across the city. In one incident, a man was found dead after having been beaten to death with a stone. In another incident, a man -- showing signs of having been tortured -- was discovered in a pile of trash.
Tuesday, April 19
In Veracruz, ten gunmen were killed during a series of clashes with soldiers. The fighting began when soldiers on patrol in the Infonavit Rio Medio neighborhood came under fire. A second gun fight occurred after they chased suspects who had fled. One civilian was wounded in the arm by a stray bullet.
[Editor's Note: We have relied in the past on El Universal's weekly body count, but it has not been appearing recently. We thus suspect that our totals are undercounting the actual totals.]
Total Body Count for the Week: 218 (including the 145 so far exhumed in San Fernando)
Total Body Count for the Year: 2,209
Total Body Count for 2010: 15,273
Total Body Count for 2009: (approx.) 9,600
Total Body Count for 2008 (approx.): 5,400
Total Body Count for 2007 (approx): 4,300
Total Body Count for Calderon's drug war through 2010: 34,849
Total Body Count for Calderon's drug war to date: 37,058
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
kudos to STDW
THANK YOU for your important work, StopTheDrugWar...!! This Mexican living in the US appreciates your efforts to keep innocent people from dying and the govts and cartels from continuing to line their bloody pockets with the money of the same who they kill, and the people who survive them and witness this barbaric treatment of THE PEOPLE.
kudos to STDW
THANK YOU for your important work, StopTheDrugWar...!! This Mexican living in the US appreciates your efforts to keep innocent people from dying and the govts and cartels from continuing to line their bloody pockets with the money of the same who they kill, and the people who survive them and witness this barbaric treatment of THE PEOPLE.
kudos to STDW!!
<p>THANK YOU for your important work, StopTheDrugWar...!!
This Mexican living in the US appreciates and deeply values your efforts to keep innocent people from dying and the govts and cartels from continuing to line their bloody pockets with the money of the same who they kill, and the people who survive them and witness this barbaric treatment of THE PEOPLE. </p>
hello, neighbor
hello, neighbor
It's not so much the cartels
As it is, US failed policy. It's not drugs that are causing these deaths, sure, people OD, but it's not a barbaric, violent, bloody, death. The US tried outlawing alcohol with similar results, but realized that only made criminals rich, and didn't save anybody from the ravages of liquor. Today we have a less intelligent government, in fact they're stupid. When a policy causes more harm than it prevents, it's a bad policy. It doesn't take a whole lot of smarts to figure that out. Problem being, collectively, our government doesn't have ANY smarts. In fact, they're so stupid, they pose a danger to themselves and others, not just in their own country, but the world. Insanity is described as doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. What we have here is clearly an insane government, harmful to everything around it. Like drugs, if left untreated, can cause harm, but, unlike drugs, kills more innocent people, ruins more lives, causes more crime, wastes more money, and, makes the world more dangerous, than not.
In reply to It's not so much the cartels by joebanana (not verified)
It's not only the cartels.
I wonder sometimes if perhaps our innocent politicians have their hands on some of the drug money because they sure hide from the subject or have it so far down their priority list they will never get to it and prevent others from solving this issue of legalization solving a large part of the Drug War.
See Portugal
Where all drugs have been legal long enough to be available for study as to results.Last thing I saw was a documentary where the young people interviewed said they would never do drugs because they were bad for you.Ask a similar group anywhere in the prohibitionist world and the answers would be very different.All drug use is down in Portugal.Contrary to the collective brain trust in NA which says that we cannot legalize drugs because as soon as we do everyone will lose their minds and become instant heroin addicts?If an addict is caught with a pocket full of heroin in Portugal he is given counselling and offered treatment.Some take it some don't.Heroin use is also down.Heroin use is at a stable 1% in prohibitionist countries,same as it was before opiates were made illegal.Mexico isn't the only country in which a lot of people are dying for drug turf.There are over 5,000 deaths in America's ghettos but no one seems to notice.The war between the UN and Red Scorpion gangs in the Abbotsford area killed 151 including the Surrey 6 case where 2 innocent bystanders were killed as collateral damage.Other than that the gangsters have proven to be excellent marksmen,killing only those they aimed at.The recent restaurant killing and wounding of 10 people was the largest,followed by a retaliation to that retaliation.Small country so small numbers.It is Winnipeg where the majority of the gang violence is centred now.Even the carnage in Columbia pales when compared to Mexico,where the people marched en masse to protest the use of the army to slaughter it's own citizens.It is doubtful that President Calderone is any more likely to listen than Obama.Both seem hell bent on continuing the carnage till either one side or the other runs out of bullets or men to pull the trigger.
Americans ignorant of narco-civil war
I bet you most Americans, especially those not on the border, have no idea that our neighbor has become worse than Beirut circa 1988. And there will be NO STOP. Eventually, it will spill over more drastically into the US, and maybe then the 40 year war will end. Here's what's incredible:
1)Marijuana, despite the domestic cultivation, is the most profitable drug that the cartels are fighting to sell to we Americans. Not cocaine. Not heroin-- marijuana. Most people familiar with the grass scene will tell you that sellers are far more laid back than those dealing hard drugs.
2) One cartel argues (not without some reason) that Pres. Calderon has alligned himself with the biggest cartel, hoping to eliminate the others. A monopoly, he figures, will end the inter-cartel violence. Then Mexico will be a bona fide narco-state.
3) The US consulate family that was going back to the US before being machine gunned professionally by a group of men in black masks are believed to have been on the take, so their deaths are not considered that important. But it won't be until blonde girls in TJ are beheaded that the drug war will get any realistic coverage.
4) Could there be more proof the drug war kills far more people than drugs, and in far more terrible ways?
absurd
I don't see too much relation between this situation and drugs cause there's been drugs all the time and in my city we lived peacefully until two yeas ago. Who's behind this? We don't know but it's now necessary a conscious effort of all to solve the problem. Politicians have been unable to solve the problem, to bring peace and prosperity to this developing nation, to give work and money to those who need them...
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