Mexico has been in the international news a lot lately, and not for their great coffee or soccer teams. Since the 2006 election of their newest president Philipe Calderon, who vowed to end the drug trade in Mexico, the drug cartels have been at it non-stop to threaten, terrorize, and kill anyone who opposes them. They have already murdered and decapitated several mayors of Mexican border towns. They have murdered people (maybe some of their former employees?) in rehabilitation centers in Mexico City and elsewhere. Birthday parties aren't even safe and 14 were gunned down just last week while celebrating. Also last week the cartels opened fire on a 3 day old newly built police station (without provocation) in a border town called Los Ramones scaring the crap out of the 14 newly hired police officers who fled back to their homes following the incident.
30,000 people or more have died since Calderon took office and declared war on the cartels. And right now it doesn't look like his plan is working. The drug dealers aren't even waiting to be provoked, they are attacking first in brutal, horrible ways to terrify everyone into compliance.
What should Mexico do? The local law enforcement is totally inadequate to deal with the cartels. The men that oppose them end up dead along with the rest of their families, and those that don't are paid off and hardly qualify as police officers.
Should the military step in and just start rounding people up? Can they do that? Even if they do they wouldn't be able to touch the top guys anyway. They'd get a few runners and maybe some town thugs, but not the bosses, the head hanchos who orchestrate the whole thing and have all the money. And what about all the families and innocent people that have been dragged into it because they were afraid for their lives?
Should the government just go in and eradicate the cartel people once and for all. Shoot them, and not wait for court dates, innocence or guilt, and prison sentences? Just go up to their fancy homes, and processing plants and kill every last person there and start from scratch? What kind of government would do something like that, and what kind of people could have faith in the fairness of it afterward?
I confess I don't know a whole lot about Mexican politics, but what I do know is that is is a very corrupt, and complicated mess at the moment. All of the Mexican people I know want the drug dealers out, and an honest government in place. But they say what are the people to do? Most of them are coerced into their corruption, and are terrified by the cartels. They have children and wives who's lives are threatened if they don't comply. Men and women who oppose the cartels loose their business, their homes and their lives. All the people who stand up for what's right don't ride off into the sunset like Zorro. They end up having their head delivered to their wife in a cardboard box.
Most of the Mexican I know say it sucked having drug dealers in their country, but it was better for the people before Calderon when everyone just turned a blind eye and let the dealers do what they wanted. There was peace because the dealers stayed out of the way of the local people and let them do their own thing. But I think that is a terrible idea. Giving in to the problem is no solution. Just think of all the junkies those drugs are producing and how many lives they are destroying.
But there has to be a solution doesn't there? Something I am not thinking of? It can't all be just hopeless can it? I just can't think of a good one. I can't think of any plan to get rid of the cartels that wouldn't be wrong on some level. Do you have any ideas?
This is a very difficult question to tackle, and one that neither of us is really informed enough to comment on, but for the sake of conversation I will put my two cents in. I think if you are looking for an answer where everyone wins and this whole drug business is put behind us, you will never find it. With a situation that is as violent and corrupt as this, there will inevitably be collateral damage if it is to be set right. There will tragedy involved in any plan to eradicate these drug cartels, there is no avoiding that, and innocent people will die. But such sacrifices are demanded in any revolution. I think if the Mexican people really want to rid themselves of the plague that is the drug trade, they have to be willing to pay the price. What they need is someone that can rally the people and commit them to the cause no matter what the price. So that those officers would return to their bullet ridden station and still seek to bring justice to the perpetrators. It will not be easy, and it will not be pretty, but I really do not think that any other solution exists. If I think of any more practical input I will let you know.
ReplyDelete