Mexican Drug War

From the 1960s through the ’80s, organized crime was intertwined with the government, according to Diego Enrique Osorno, a Mexican journalist and author of the recently published history, The Sinaloa Cartel. Whoever wins the 2012 elections is expected to take a new approach toward the cartels. Many voters may hope for a return to the days when the PRI let organized crime run drugs unfettered up to the U.S. border, but kept the violence off the streets.

Drug prohibition can even lead to governments being overthrown. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has warned that drug gangs are seeking to replace the state and impose their own law in parts of the country. The gangs were imposing fees like taxes in areas they dominated and trying to impose their own laws by force of arms, said Calderon.

Drug prohibition violence usually tends to negatively affect business, but that's not the case with businesses involving bulletproofing cars. Fourteen armoring companies are certified by Mexico's federal government, and business is getting better by the day.

It looks like the consequences of drug prohibition -- in this case needless deaths and assorted violence -- are making Mexico react in a more logical way. Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, said today he would consider a debate on legalising drugs, as his government announced that more than 28,000 people have been killed in prohibition violence since he launched a crackdown against cartels in December 2006.

Drug prohibition is responsible for a lot more deaths than drugs. Now, the Mexican government is reporting that 28,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderón initiated an offensive against the country’s drug cartels three years ago. The announcement, made by Mexico’s intelligence service director Guillermo Valdés, marks the second time in four months that the government has increased its estimate of the number of violent deaths caused by prohibition violence.

Drug prohibition violence continues in Ciudad Juarez where Mexican federal police officers were attacked with a grenade, nearly two weeks after Mexican federal police were attacked with a car bomb. 262 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez in July -- that's about 8 per day.

Reporters in Nuevo Laredo avoid coverage of drug prohibition violence due to death threats from drug gangs. It's a matter of self-preservation -- since December 2006, more than 30 journalists have been killed or have disappeared since President Felipe Calderon launched an ineffective war against drug trafficking organizations.

Now, for yet another lesson in futility from the class Economics of Drug Prohibition 101. The death of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, No. 3 of the gang led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, during an army operation will likely will mean more violence as factions fight for the cocaine and methamphetamine empire that he left behind.