I just read a Wikipedia article:Mexican Drug Wars.I chose this article because they show how the Mexican cartel drug wars affect innocent people in Mexico. The article is informative on all the cartels, how they started and how they affect the people both physically and mentally. Also they talk about how the cartels don’t only traffic drugs but human trafficking, extortion and other illegal activities.
One sentence from this article that stands out for me is: “One of the main factors driving the Mexican Drug war is the willingness of mainly lower-class people to earn easy money joining criminal organizations, and the failure of the government to provide the legal means for the creation of well paid jobs.” I think this is unfair because if Mexicans had the opportunities to get better paying jobs they wouldn’t have the need to find other methods of getting easy money. I think the government has a lot of fault in the cartel activities because they have the power to make a change in their country. I’m pretty sure this is accurate, because according to the article Poverty a Recruitment Tool For Mexico’s Criminal Gangs, “While there are several likely explanations for this phenomenon, most analysts agree that Mexico’s abysmal youth unemployment rate is a major contributing factor.”
Another sentence that I agree with was: “Mexican cartels advance their operations, in part, by corrupting or intimidating law enforcement officials. Mexican municipal, state, and federal government officials, along with the police forces, often work together with the cartels in an organized network of corruption.” This stood out for me because the government isn’t helping the problem instead they are working with the cartels. Government corruption gives the cartels more power to do whatever they want to do, if they have power over the government they have power over all the people. I double-checked this fact through NY Times article Corruption Hampers Mexican Police in Border Drug Wars, which makes me feel pretty sure that it is true.
What I learned from this article is that a cause of the drug wars in Mexico is due to many reasons but a very important one being poverty. Also that the leading cause of the cartel drug wars comes down to the government’s incapacity to provide better education and better paying jobs to their citizens as well as the government’s corruption.
Image By Mexico_Map.svg: Allstrakderivative work: Wnt (Mexico_Map.svg) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
Andreas,
Thank you for this post. This post was really eye opening for me with all of the issues you discussed. I have some good family friends that live in Mexico in which they have informed me a little bit about the issue but you gave me more great intel. I agree with you that the government should be helping Mexico and that we should be in more of a alliance with them. Do you think that the government will ever help more with the Cartels? Or do you think the government will ever help Mexico a little more then it is currently?
Thank you,
Kayden Milburn
Wow… Hearing about that really makes me want to help Mexico out with the issues you talked about. Some people, I won’t name names, think that we should separate ourselves from Mexico by doing things like building a wall. I think Mexico is our friend and what ever hurts them, like the cartel, also hurts us.