Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues
by Bernd Debusmann, Jr.
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 28,000 people, the government reported in August. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest 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.
Ciudad Juarez
On Texas's Falcon Lake, which straddles the US-Mexico border, an American couple was attacked as they rode a jet ski on the American side of the lake. Tiffany Hartley, 29, said that her and her husband David were chased and shot at by armed men coming from the Mexican side of the lake. David was shot in the head and left in the water, and is presumed dead. There have been several previous incidents of armed men on the lake, in some instances wearing Mexican police uniforms and shaking down fishermen.
In Ciudad Juarez, eleven people were murdered. This brings the total number of homicides during the month of September to 288, 44 of them women. As of September 30, approximately 2,324 murders have been committed in Ciudad Juarez.
In Acapulco, 22 Mexican tourists from Michoacan were kidnapped and remain missing. The motives remain unclear, although it should be noted that none of the kidnapped men was a known drug trafficker and it appears they were mostly mechanics and carpenters.
Saturday, October 2
Across Mexico, at least 34 people were killed during a 48-hour period. In the isolated Durango town of San Jose de La Cruz, a firefight between rival drug traffickers left fourteen dead. Much of Durango has traditionally been under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Sunday, October 3
In Guadalupe, near Monterrey, 15 people were killed after a suspected grenade attack on the town’s main plaza. Six children, including a three-year old, were among the wounded. It was the fourth attack with an explosive device in the Monterrey area in two days. On Friday, grenade attacks were reported outside a prison, the US consulate, and a federal court.
Tuesday, October 5
In Ciudad Juarez, 14 people were killed across the city. In one incident, a wounded man attempted to hide inside a restaurant, only to be discovered by the gunmen who were chasing him and shot dead in front of many patrons. Some were seen to have bloodstains on their clothing from the incident. 23 killings were reported in Juarez in the first 3 days of October.
Total Body Count for the Week: 153
Total Body Count for the Year: 8,305
Read the previous Mexico Drug War Update here.
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
Constitutional equality founded in good citizenship & economics
After witnessing the security of the Mexican border and micro-economics within the United States of Mexico I was not self assured about the sustainable role of justice with how much easier it is to make money easily and quickly in the drug trade rather than working smarter and harder. The Gross Domestic Product of most developed countries reflects the infrastructure of micro-economics with service industry opportunities and the availability to work which un-employment, skilled labor, and population density can be monitored. From my basic reading of business and industry this seems to be the case with the United States of Mexico that must also be recognized on the boarder cities for boarder security to be sustainable.
The establishment of foreign policy which promotes such good citizenship and economics is founded in each nations constitutional rights which justice must recognize with their good character and virtue. The border security of the United States of Mexico and the United States of America is not the real front line to preserve this issue but common understanding to each others nations citizenship with duties to each other in regards to such virtues. It has been my further reading concerning the duties of fair commerce involving the recent stability of tourism and Mexican Securities Exchange Commission or Stock Exchange which is a sign of preparation for such stability in the border area.
I encourage people interested in my personal perspective to read my on-line compilation notes;
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1BhqSaOz1MNRcACZ7KlSvtPb1KOmAmwJ3cZqmG_o87d0&hl=en
Really?
I thought, during the interview, I saw the widow give, that they were going to an area on the Mexican side of the lake. And, if they were in US waters, why isn't the US government investigating the situation, instead of the Mexican authorities. Your post on this confuses me, a little.
Why would the US not investigate, if it occurred on our side of the border? That just makes no sense at all!
Rule of Law; United Nations Office on Legal Affairs
As an investigative journalist I have been reviewing the authority of the United States Secretary of the Army with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and how each nation deals with security clearances to investigate the integrity of society under which we have law. Each nation being different with its own military the common nature of law should be present in the agreed treaty of the United Nations which in the case of narcotics traffic is under the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic substances 1971. Given the common boarder of the United States and Mexico the issue of how the human factor, or human intelligence, provides information of high integrity under such authority would be the next likely legal issue of the National Ground Intelligence Center to disseminate information under such authority including within the State of Texas as a boarder state of the United States. As an investigative journalist I have done this work as well in regards to the Constitution Party as an interested party. On a global perspective the United Nations due to commercial interests and joint commands have interests with the United Nations Security Council which I have also done work via personal life experience and investigative journalism with the Russia-United States foreign policy in relationship to the Mexican Drug War that readers may find of interest.
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