Is Mexico in danger of becoming a failed state in our own backyard? Violence has been erupting across the nation in recent months as the drug cartels fight each other over territory and terrorize the local populations, and it’s spilling over into the United States.
Vice President Joe Biden said recently;
“Since the beginning of last year, there have been nearly 7,000 drug-related murders in Mexico. If we had said that years ago, we would have looked at each other like we were crazy. Violent drug trafficking organizations are threatening both the United States and Mexican communities.”
While the Mexican government has been deploying thousands of troops to border towns like Ciudad Juarez, U.S. governors in border states are becoming increasingly concerned, including Texas governor Rick Perry who recently made an “urgent call” for 1,000 additional National Guard troops to be deployed to his state to assist with securing the border.
President Barack Obama said recently that several states have requested additional deployments, although according to a Pentagon spokesperson they have not yet been ordered to move any troops to the border. The president has said he has no interest in “militarizing the border,” and there has been no discussion of sending U.S. troops into Mexico. However, the Mexican government currently has 5 helicopers, a Marine surveillance vehicle and handheld scanners on loan from the U.S.
Obama and Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met earlier this month in anticipation of Mullen’s recent trip to Mexico. The White House is eager to assist in stablizing the region, and has been mobilizing all resources to address the problem. Secretary of State Clinton will be in Mexico later this month. A House subcommittee is expected to question Department of Homeland Security officials in an attempt to address potential dangers to our citizens at home in upcoming hearings.
Mexican government officials share their own concerns about their neighbor in all this – turns out, the majority of the weapons being used in attacks in Mexico have been of U.S. origin. Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz told CNN that two .50-caliber rifles were confiscated during a recent raid, both of which were purchased via the Internet, from the U.S., citing an example of the easily availability of heavy military-grade firearms to those with the cash. Mexican officials are increasing pressure on the U.S. to clamp down on the flow of firearms across the border.
Despite a recent U.S. State Department travel alert which compared the fighting between the cartels and local authorities to “small-unit combat,” Mexico’s tourism chief reports no decrease in tourism as a result of the increased killings. According to him, Mexico is perfectly safe as long as you avoid the “zones that are not safe.” Well, now I feel better.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the details, and the numbers. Safe zones and unsafe zones, so many deaths, so many soldiers, so much cash – Forbes added Joaquin Guzman Loera, the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, to their billionaire’s list this year, “self-made” in the “shipping” industry. Our continuation of the failed War on Drugs is no small part of this mess, and by now it should be clear we have no option other than to legitimize and marginalize the drug cartels if we are ever to restore peace to the border towns of either country.
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