by Ann Nurse

Created on: March 14, 2009   Last Updated: January 06, 2012

Drug Trafficking and Mexican Border

The drug war in Mexico is spilling into bordering cities in the United States.  Daily our news is filled with horrendous stories of the Mexican police force and their inability to control the drug cartel in their country. The drug cartel does not seem to be intimidated by the Mexican police force. We hear on the news of men being beheaded, women shot in their cars, teenage hired assassins on one hand and on the other we see where Forbes Magazine recently published Mexico's most wanted man, a drug dealer listed in Forbes List of Billionaires.

March 13, 2009, the Associated Press ran this story with the following headline.

"Mexico blasts Forbes for putting drug lord on list." It read as follow: "Forbes ranks Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, with an estimated $1 billion fortune at No. 701 between a Swiss oil-trading tycoon and an American chemical heir. Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted fugitive, is believed to head the Sinaloa cartel. President Felipe Calderon said Thursday "magazines are not only attacking and lying about the situation in Mexico but are also praising criminals."

In the Mexican drug wars it is hard to tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys." The police departments are corrupt; it seems that everyone can be bought or they fear the cartel more than they do fighting to keep the law. By the way there was a story written by Sam Dillion and Antonio Betancourt, which reads like this. "Authorities accused a mid ranking army officer in the elite presidential guard of selling information about the whereabouts of president Felipe Calderon to the drug lords." The violence of the drug war is spilling over into the United States. Cities in the United States bordering the Mexican border are experiencing some fallout from the drug war in Mexico.

The drug cartel has become so bold, according to a story by Marc Lacey, who reported this story.

"An American security consultant who has helped negotiate the release of scores of kidnap victims in Latin America was himself kidnapped last week in northern Mexico.
Marc Lacey also wrote this, "Mexico's violent drug war is finding its way into the sanctuary of the nation's hospitals."

The U.S. State Department has renewed a travel alert warning American of the violent crime close to the U.S. and Mexican border.
A lot of college students like to go there on spring break. There is some concern being generated in America about Mexico becoming a "failed state," this may be due to the article in Forbes Magazine.

Mexico is usually estimated to be the main supplier of meth used in the United States, seizure data suggest neighboring Guatemala could be producing as much or more.

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