While Mexico has dealt with drug cartels, gangs, and narco-trafficking for decades, the current escalation of violence within Mexico’s borders and spilling over into the U.S. is reaching new heights. In Mexico, more than 6,000 people died in 2008, due to drug-related violence, including beheadings.¹ Mexican gangs are operating in more than 230 U.S. cities and towns and violence amongst rival gang members and dealers is becoming common.²

The current crisis is the results of a perfect storm of events: 1) Weak local and state governments, police forces, and court system in Mexico, 2) Increased international success combating drug smuggling in Colombia and the Caribbean, 3) Increased drug consumption in Mexico and resulting turf wars, and 4) Ease of buying guns in the U.S and transporting them to Mexico. Globalization’s influence can be seen in the way drug cartels operate across borders, and like legitimate businesses, take advantage of opportunities and laws in different countries to increase their business and prestige.

Impact of Weak Local and State Governments

Cartels are filling in power vacuums due to weak local and state governments. Traditionally, Mexican cities have weak taxing power and hence small budgets and low salaried workers, susceptible to bribes. Mayors cannot be re-elected, leading to more corruption and incompetence. Local cops are underfunded and bribable and do not have the manpower or weapons to fight the drug cartels, who have more sophisticated weaponry that even the army. The judiciary is weak as well, as Mexican judges are intimidated when prosecuting drug-related cases.

Hence, the Mexican army is fighting the cartels instead of the police. In response, the cartels are now fighting the state, in addition to fighting each-other. In the first three years of Calderon’s term, the army has clashed 153 times with drug gangs, compared to 16 times in the 6-year Fox term.³ The U.S. is trying to help with The Merida Initiative, which pledges to supply $1.4 billion in the next few years for advanced weaponry, surveillance technology, and training.⁴ 

Increasingly the army is facing protesters who want the violence to end. Protesters claim that the army has arrested people without warrants and have committed violence and abuse, including rape. The army notes that many protestors are being paid by the drug cartels to cause further confusion.

One of the key challenges is Mexico’s vast, federal bureaucracy. In Monterrey alone, there are 11 different municipal police forces, a state police, three branches of the federal police, and the army.⁵ The federal government, until recently, did not know who was actually serving in all these police units and so started a law enforcement fingerprint database, as is trying to create a system to connect state and municipal records.⁶ Mexico has called for reform of the state and municipal police forces; analysts note that it could be another 15 years or more before the reform is fully-implemented.

Another contributing factor is the increased success of combating the drug war in Colombia and the Caribbean, which has lead the U.S.-Mexican border to become the primary smuggling area for bringing illegal drugs into the U.S. Rival gangs and cartels are fighting over the these drug routes in a turf war.⁷ The border has become tighter though, and domestic consumption within Mexico is on the rise; rival gangs are now also fighting for the domestic market as well.⁸ 

Weapons acquisition

Drug cartels are taking advantage of relatively lax gun control laws in the U.S. Buying guns is difficult in Mexico, requiring military approval for civilian gun purchase; large caliber-rifles and high-powered pistols are illegal, as they are considered military weapons.

A New York Times article highlights how Mexican drug cartels and gangs access U.S. weapons:⁹  There are more than 6600 licensed weapons dealers along the U.S.-Mexican borders, many operating out of homes, which makes policing the dealers nearly impossible (there are only 200 ATF agents assigned to this task). The U.S. government only tracks guns used in crimes. Americans with a clean criminal record can buy multiple military-style rifles, without the dealers having to report the sales to the government. Gun shows are not required to report sales of weapons to government either. Hence, smugglers will buy multiple rifles, from different stores and/or shows and then transport them to Mexico, which checks relatively few cars and trucks going into the country.

Where do we go from here?

The drug trade is estimated to bring in $10 billion/year in revenue; the Calderon government has spent an additional $6.5 billion this past year in public security measures.¹⁰ Calderon has arrested a number of high-ranking officials for corruption, extradited many others to U.S. and is calling for the U.S. to do fight corruption within its ranks.

Former President of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Colombia Cesar Gavira and former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo recently discussed recommendations made by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy to address the roots of the drug problem.¹¹ They began by stating that prohibitionist policies, such as eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption have not worked. They believe the long-term solution is to decrease demand, especially in the U.S. and to shift approaches to illegal drugs:

1. Reduce the harm caused by drugs
2. Use education to decrease consumption (similar to the anti-smoking campaigns)
3. Aggressively combat organized crime.

They believe to start this new paradigm shift the U.S. should treat drug addicts and dealers in hospitals rather than arrest them. While the problem is complex, such steps might be a good start to dealing with this crisis, but they won’t be enough.

To learn more about the illegal trade of illicit drugs, visit Case Study: Illicit Drugs and Globalization.