Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Contagious Disaster: Mexican Drug-War Violence Expands Into US Territory
Is Mexico descending into anarchy? The recent escalation of the massive drug war (which claimed around 6000 lives last year alone!) suggests that a) officials are losing the ability to fight the cartels that operate there and b) the drug 'barons' are becoming increasingly successful in their efforts to infiltrate the Mexican political system (both locally and nationally), and buy themselves immunity. Does this spell disaster for the states' already weak democratic model? Could Mexico be the next Columbia in the drug riddled region?
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It will be interesting to see what role the United States will play in this; Hillary Clinton already did something no American official has done before: admitting that this is America's problem, too. The drugs head over the border to the US and back comes cash and weapons.
ReplyDeleteIs Mexico a largely decentralised state? Having states that are quite autonomous would be part of the problem, since the issue becomes regional and not the problem of the federal government. Now since most local authorities are caught in a web of corruption, the federal authorities have started to take action.
I watched a "Ross Kemp On Gangs" episode(fantastic, right?!) in which Rossy informed us that there is barely any respect for police or laws in Mexico and as a result, drug runners are pretty much free to operate because they outnumber the law enforcers so much. I think its very likely that Mexico will come to rival, if not supercede, Colombia simply because the drug "barons" have figured out how to keep themselves and their "business" safe... Good ole Hillary. At last someone admits that America must take the blame for problems outside of the United States as well!
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