Who’s to Blame for Mexico’s Narcoviolence
Univision Online, Posted: Jun 05, 2008
MIAMI -- Mexico is beginning to look like a war zone, Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas writes in her syndicated column, and the drug cartels are better equipped than the government. Salinas argues that the problem is systemic: Mexican drug traffickers did not become powerful overnight. It’s been decades in the making. Organized crime has infiltrated law enforcement and governmental agencies; former police and federal agents are now the hired killers of drug cartels; and politicians have been paid to turn a blind eye.
A recent editorial in the Mexican newspaper El Universal urged action against the drug traffickers and the corruption that protects criminal organizations, including the financial networks in charge of money laundering.
The newspaper also attributes part of the blame to the U.S. government. "Ninety percent of the weapons sent to Mexican drug traffickers come from the United States and enter through Nogales, El Paso and Yuma, but they are invisible to U.S. authorities who are busy persecuting the undocumented,” the newspaper noted.
But Salinas argues that Mexico won’t win the war on drugs until Mexicans decide to take back the institutions that gradually have been taken over by drug traffickers.
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User Comments
Lee Tron on Jun 06, 2008 at 07:27:16 said:
LEGALIZE and REGULATE. Start with marijuana. It should be obvious to all by now that demand for mind-altering substances (especially in the U.S.A) is never going to go away. As long as there is demand, there will be somebody willing to supply. As long as it is illegal, the suppliers can charge exorbiant prices for their product which leads to extraordinary profits. This combination of profitability and illegality assures that the criminal underworld will be in charge of distribution. With criminals in charge, violence is all but assured.
-->End the prohibition and legally supply the demand with government regulation/distribution and quality control. The disparity in value of the substances will disappear within a year and the cartels will collapse along with the violence associated with them.