The Mexican Drug War - The Violence Is Escalating

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned yet (if it has, somebody please correct me or move this to the appropriate forum).

I am concerned about the growing violence going on in Mexico while the various drug cartels duke it out. Last year, I read an article where somebody threw severed heads down the hallway of a church. Earlier this year, I believe about two months ago, there were simultaneous attacks after a wedding at both the church and at the reception. Today I read that now one of the cartels has used a car bomb to attack across the border from Laredo, TX. (Article here: Eight Suspects Killed in Clash With Mexican Soldiers.) These articles read like something out of The Godfather.

I still have relatives and friends in Texas, both near Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros, and these stories cause me to be concerned. Although I am quite sure that the Mexican Drug Cartels know better than to take the violence into our country, I wonder how far they will go with this. (I know the answer to that - till one side is dead.) But what are the alternative solutions?

Those are some of the facts that I have read. Now, most people on the internet who comment on these articles (minus the yahoos who say it’s Obama’s fault) are suggesting that either US or Mexico (or both) legalize marijuana, the wars will simply go away. That works if Mexico does it. If the US does it, and being the major demand for Mexico’s drug crop, the US demand for Mexican goods will greatly reduce the violence. I don’t know much about the government of Mexico (other than their president has vowed to end their war on drugs and their police force is corrupt as all get out), while the US is struggling with our own legalization policies. (Look at what Oakland did this month.)

So what are the options? Is there a valid solution or is this just Mexico’s version of the problem that the US has had since forever? Opinions? Or will this lead to a Mexican civil war?

2

I lived in El Paso for years, and now live on the border in the Rio Grande Valley. Legalization of drugs has nothing at all to do with what is going on, and you would come across as an idiot, here, to suggest that legalizing marijuana would end the drug war. This is usually what people from other parts of the U.S. seem to think would end the violence. THERE IS a civil war in Mexico–there are the cartels vs the federales–local policia vs the federales–cartels vs the policia–cartels vs the military–yadayadayada. The U.S. media fails to report what’s going on in the northern Mexico/Texas border areas. Just a few days ago a car bomb was exploded after creating a diversion with EMS workers in Juarez. This is TERRORISM on our continent! People in the U.S. have no comprehension of the kidnappings, home invasions, and other cartel-related crimes that are happening here along both sides of the lower Rio Grande border. I find it a little telling that in my insulated, gated subdivision, the majority home owners (Mexican nationals) are all of a sudden, here all the time, as opposed to their normal weekend only occupancy. As for us, we answer the door, always, with a “Judge” in our hand. Google it.:cool:

3

Legalizing marijuana, and harder drugs – cocaine is something that fills cartels pockets, too – would certainly lower the income levels of the cartels, making their funding more difficult… But it would no more alleviate all the violence than legalizing heroine would alleviate the violence in Afghanistan.

4

Here’s a thread I started about this very subject from a few months ago:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=557020&highlight=Mexican

5

My (American) aunt married a Mexican man, and they’ve lived in Mexico City for my whole life, and longer. But my mom saw her recently and apparently they’re planning on moving to the US. I’m shocked - my uncle is very patriotic and loves Mexico and I’d never thought I’d see the day that he would move to the US, but apparently he’s had a gun held to his head twice in the last year?! They’ve had friends kidnapped and held for ransom, their entire family was held up at gunpoint inside their home, etc., but none of it was enough to budge them, until now.

6

Yes, thank God none of that violence crosses the border.

7

I last worked in Mexico in 2004. One of my coworkers got mugged in DF in a gas station; the talk around the lunch table was not about whether other people had been mugged, but when had they been mugged last :eek: If they were just trying to scare the visitor, they sure were better at deadpan than I give them credit for.

8

I believe it. The…not last time, but time before that, that I was there, my sister and I wandered around downtown by ourselves and then had trouble finding a taxi with a medallion. We ended up taking an unregistered taxi back to our aunt and uncle’s house. My aunt scolded us (well, me, because my sister was ~17 and I was ~22) very strongly for having done something so stupid. I guess I was just young and naive, but my aunt was so sincerely worried and freaked out that we had done this I realized what a serious risk we had taken, and how dangerous DF is.

9

As a Mexican-American (Born in America to Mexican immigrants) The situation in Mexico is really painful for me to watch. My family in Mexico is mostly middle middle class, in relatively safe areas, but even we have lots of stories, muggings, kidnappings, even one of my relatives had his business commandeered by one of the gangs (Zetas).

Obviously, it is still possible to have a life and live it in Mexico, and the tourist sites are still nice, but especially in the border reasons, man, it makes me so sad. I have no idea how to fix it.

I have a question. How possible is it to buy drugs in the US without it being connected to the cartels? I guess the medical marijuana dispensaries in California might be the only place I would even imagine don’t have that stain. Even if you buy it from your neighbor who grows it in his basement, who knows where he got the seeds and supplies… I’d be curious to see some actual statistics on this question, so I know how angry to be at my friends who partake.

10

I am not telling you how to grow drugs, here. I’m providing factual, not instructive answers.

Supplies you get at a local hydroponics store, hell, you could set up a really, really nice hydroponics system from stuff you can get out of home depot, in theory – I couldn’t do it personally.

Seeds, you only need once, and then you can make your own through cloning. And to the best of my knowledge, mexican stuff is usually schwagg, brick weed or “crap”. Bulk pot, grown as cheaply as possible and imported in bulk. The good stuff is grown by hand, cared for carefully, and never compressed into bricks the way mexican stuff is – it’s fluffy and aromatic.

You can industrialize growing the better stuff, however, it’s difficult and requires a large facility – which can’t be done in the USA without attracting attention, therefore a lot of the good stuff (not all, mind you) is locally grown, and you pay a premium for it. Correct me if I’m wrong here, it’s been a while since I’ve smoked pot, but I could usually tell if marijuana was “fresh” (as in, less than a month – usually a few weeks – since it’s been cured) or not (as in, a few months since it’s been cured, or more), and I had a good relationship with a friend of mine, who got it for me (he was, technically, my dealer, but he only bought for me and him, so I don’t think I’ll call him that), and he got it from a friend of his who – he says – grew in his basement.

A guy, locally, who grows in his basement, isn’t contributing much of anything to mexican drug cartels, but if you really want to prevent drug money from funding drug cartels… campaign to legalize, decriminalize and tax marijuana and cocaine. Even if it doesn’t put a stop to the fighting, it almost certainly will either A) put the drug cartels out of business, or B) reform their organizations. It happened with Alcohol Prohibition.

11

For those who live in that life, the cartel’s tactics are as valid as bombing a wedding party to get 1 or 2 high-ranked terrorists. If innocent civilians get caught up in it, hey, that’s what happens when you are conducting a war. It’s okay waging a war, but you need to know what fronts you are best suited to attack.

12

I think it depends on what area of the country you’re in. I know the further north you go the less Mexican weed you’ll get and more of Canada’s crop shows up. Most of it in the PNW is grown in the huuuge tracts of land we have due to our national forests. So you want the cartels to go away? Buy local! Don’t let cheap Mexican imports ruin our way of life! :smiley:

13

The violence in Mexico just breaks my heart. I had some hope of Mexico developing into more of a true democracy with attendant hopes of a broadening of the middle class and I think this is going to wreck everything.

14

The latest from the LA Times:

Freed inmates carried out killings, Mexico police say

:eek:

15

Yeah, I know. We have close friends who moved here from Mexico City a few years back (because their business failed) and their extended family is mostly down there. They’ve had kidnappings for ransom, etc. all that sort of thing.