Guadalajara -
Drugs move north, while guns and obscene amounts of cash move south.
That's the way the Mexican drug war - correction, the U.S. drug war being played out on Mexican soil - works.
Mexico and its Central American neighbors contend that 90% of the drugs moving through their sovereign territory are U.S. bound, a proposition with which the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime concurs (Guatemalan ambassador warns of growing Los Zeta drug cartel presence in his country). And it's long been clear that American arms provide the vast amount of firepower in the hands of drug cartels and organized crime (The Second Amendment, NRA leave their mark in Mexico). Some traffickers enjoy such global presence that they conduct operations north of the border like legitimate business entities (Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel has 90% market domination in U.S., even licensing sales territories).
Last week the Center for Investigative Reporting carried an interesting piece which found that Four of five Border Patrol drug busts involve U.S. citizens. The key findings of CIR's study were these:
"There’s no argument that Mexico-based crime organizations dominate drug smuggling into the United States. But the public message that the Border Patrol has trumpeted for much of the last decade, mainly through press releases about its seizures, has emphasized Mexican drug couriers, or mules, as those largely responsible for transporting drugs. It turns out that the Border Patrol catches more American citizens with drugs than it does Mexican couriers, according to an analysis of records obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Three out of four people found with drugs by the border agency are U.S. citizens, the data show. Looked at another way, when the immigration status is known, 4 of 5 busts – which may include multiple people – involve a U.S. citizen. Law enforcement officials and even U.S. citizens who have been busted said Americans often are recruited because traffickers hope they will arouse less suspicion from police." Cartel use of child drug mules rising.
CIR found that border smuggling by U.S. citizens has skyrocketed in recent years, increasing three fold between 2005 and 2011. Of course, the stats are based on those caught. Everybody agrees that many aren't. One man interviewed for the report said he had made five unhindered drug runs between Mexico and Detroit before finally being nabbed in December 2010. His motive, he said, was "to pay down a business partner’s $600,000 debt to Mexican drug traffickers."
Anyone who thinks that the U.S. smugglers are crossing the border with small amounts of arguably "softer" drugs intended only for personal use will find that assumption contradicted by Border Patrol arrest reports reviewed by CIR. The Center found that "a U.S. citizen is more often caught with large amounts of drugs than a non-U.S. citizen. A U.S. citizen is involved in drug trafficking – including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine – 60 percent of the time. For marijuana busts of 1,000 pounds or more, the percentage climbs to more than two-thirds."
In less than six weeks the presidents of Mexico and the United States will have their first meeting since Enrique Peña Nieto took office in December. Barack Obama has already acknowledged that U.S. drug demand is responsible for damage done to Mexico and other Latin nations. This country's new government says that as many as 70,000 people may have died since the drug war began in 2006. But whether Mr. Obama will tell the new PRI leader just what he intends to do on his side of the border - as Colorado, Washington and other American states boldly claim they have the power to legalize drugs - is anybody's guess. President Peña Nieto and his security ministers will be all ears.
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Some 2,000 weapons illegally enter Mexico every day from the U.S., according to this report. An estimated 6,700 gun runners along the border bring them into the country in small quantities to avoid detection. A study conducted by the Trans Border Institute of the University of San Diego found that between 2010 and 2012, more than 253,000 weapons legally acquired in the United States crossed the frontier into Mexico. Almost all ended up in the hands of drug cartels and organized crime.
Apr. 5 - For the first time, majority of Americans back legal pot
Apr. 5 - U.S. gunrunners shipwrecked off Riviera Maya coast, Mexican press suggests
U.S. guns play key role in Mexico's raging drug war
"Dear friends in the United States - please, no more assault weapons to Mexico"
Apr. 2 - Mexico's March drug war tally was 1,025 dead, with Jalisco state in fourth place nationwide
Mar. 1 - 100 police officers and soldiers killed in PRI's first 90 days
Jan. 13 - Mexican drug cartels operate in 1,286 U.S. cities
Jan. 7 - Until drug demand is reduced in the United States, "the violence in Mexico will continue."
Mar. 30 - The Washington Post has high praise for Enrique Peña Nieto
Mar. 11 - Enrique Peña Nieto's three smart decisions
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
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