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Omar Petty
Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
December 3, 2016
More Homeruns than Strikeouts: Mexican Drug War
Imagine sitting in bed, drinking a nice glass of water when suddenly, youre interrupted
by a phone call. On the other end of the line, is a mild mannered policeman who has had to do
this one too many times. He is almost annoyed at the fact that he has to go through all of this
because he had to make a similar call just two nights before. The policeman says, Maam, we
need you to come to the hospital and confirm the identity of your son, and he hangs up. Nothing
could ever prepare a mother walking into a hospital and seeing their sons chest wide open
because he was part of a Mexican drug cartel. This is the harsh reality that many Mexican
families go through as they battle the war on drugs, as they have for the past decade (CNN).
A drug cartel is an organization that has ties into the drug trafficking operations. Some
are as small as a couple of people growing a few coca plants to a full blown commercial
enterprise. The people that are controlling the industry are labeled kingpins. They set the
prices, track the shipments, manage the employment and deal the money. (Lawson) An
undercover DEA agent states Part of the way the cartels retain control is through fear. Mexicans
will cooperate to a certain level, but they wont talk about Sinaloa. They know their family back
home will be killed. This is a tactic used by the cartels to make sure their confidentiality
remains secure. No one wants to cross the paths of an upset kingpin; thats one of the quickest
ways to be murdered.

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Will there ever come a time where we defeat the drug cartels that cause so much
destruction and tear apart families? The question persists and there are many views on this
matter. In 2006, Felipe Caldern, was elected the new president of Mexico and he wanted to get
rid of the cartels as much as the citizens did. His plan was to deploy the military into the streets
and try to find people who worked for cartels. Some say it was a success, and others say it
wasnt. President Caldern saw it as a victory when his people had captured/killed 25 of the top
37 drug lords in the country (CQ Researcher). In fact, it was the total opposite because as soon
as one king pin would fall, another would take his place and carry on the duties that his
predecessor had left for him to complete. The cartels had an answer for President Caldern. They
fought violence with violence and started to murder government officials and policeman. In
2010, an unknown cartel targeted a very important government official. Rodolfo Torre was a
gubernatorial candidate that was ambushed on a rural highway, along with some of his
coworkers. No one knows why he was targeted but there are a couple of theories on the matter.
Mr. Torre was an honest politician who posed a threat to drug gangs; Mr. Torre had struck a deal
to protect one gang and was killed by a rival gang angry at being cut out; or a cartel killed him
just to make life more difficult for a rival gang that controls turf in the state. Whichever one of
these is true, one thing that can be certain is the cartels do not care who you are, or what you
mean to the people of Mexico. They want to show everyone that they have a little bit of control
on what goes on around the country. The homicide toll at the end of Calderns presidency in
2012 had totaled up to 120,000. To put in perspective how many people that is, the city of
Charleston, South Carolina has a little over 120,000 people (Travel and History).
Enrique Nieto, the current president is reiterating the same plan that Caldern had
implemented, but there have been no signs of improvements unless you cut out the civilian

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deaths. The death toll has doubled through his presidency and there is an average of 18 deaths
per 100,000 people compared to that of the USA which is approximately 4.5 (Veiras).
The emergence of new cartels around 2009 have sprung up all over Mexico which meant
more competition. More competition meant producing more drugs and in the end more drugs
resulted in more money for the cartel. One of the most well-known Mexican cartels happens to
be the Sinaloa cartel. Their leader, Joaquin Guzman, widely known as El Chapo, is one of the
most feared human beings that ever walked the Mexican streets. According to the United States
Intelligence Community, they are the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world.
They are the major exporters of opium and marijuana all across the globe. The capture of El
Chapo was a remarkable one in February of 2014, but as many people expected, he escaped. He
did this twice from 2014-2016. El Chapo is currently being held in a prison in Brooklyn, New
York (Sanchez). A former MDC prisoner stated Hes definitely not going to be digging any
tunnels in Brooklyn, I can tell you that. Once those metal doors close behind him, its pretty
much over.
Mexican officials are thought to be some of the most corrupt in the business and they are
easily bought by the cartels to let things go under their noses. Since most of the policemen are
basically paid by the cartels, that makes another reason it would be so difficult to stop them. The
cartel is a very complex system that employs many different types of people. Sicarios are the
cartels hitmen and all they do is listen to the orders of their higher leaders and kill on request.
The hitmen are considered to be the most loyal to their cartel compared to that of other jobs in
the cartel business. Deaths range from knocking on the door and being shot in the head, to being
tortured for hours and slowly dying until they get information out of you. They have accountants,
secretaries, judges, and little kids that are used for spotting incoming military personnel, just to

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name a few. Connects, or different business partners in different parts of the world open an
endless amount of possibilities of where the drugs could end up. This is one reason it is very hard
to stop the cartels.
Mexican drug cartels arent just doing this just to do it for fun. There is big money to be
made and the drugs have created an estimated $30 billion industry (US-Mexico Relations).
Cartels have gotten this way because people are buying, and guess who their biggest buyer is?
Yes, you guessed correctly if you said the United States. Fernandez de Castro, former Mexican
government official, states, Drugs, for the U.S., are a public health problem, for Mexicans, its
about making sure our children can walk in the streets and play in the parks safely(qtd in CQ
Researcher). He hit it home with this statement. People in the United States are not necessarily
concerned with the violence that the cartels bring because its usually not in our home country.
Mexico on the other hand is experiencing the violence first hand so there are different ways
Mexico and the U.S. will have to deal with this. The United States has given Mexico well over
$100 million in police assistance and military training to help fight the cartels (LaSusa). The US
Marshal Service has recently been sending specialists disguised as local security forces to hunt
down criminals (Barrett). The United States spends so much money to try and slow down the
criminal acts of drug violence. So far, it hasnt worked as well as the U.S. would like. Since 2015
however, with the incident of 43 missing students and the escape of El Chapo, the United States
has cut back the funding of security aid. They are estimated to withhold around $5 million this
year because of the mistreatment of prisoners and torturing people. Human rights organizations
have raised awareness from the widespread abuse that has being going on with the Mexican
military and police. The United States are being criticized for supplying the Mexicans with more
money when they know they are using this money to violate peoples rights (Planas). People are

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skeptical about this though, saying we shouldnt risk our men into a war that isnt necessarily our
own, however; the war is also Americas since they are spreading throughout the states.
There is a presence of the Mexican drug cartels that operate in the United States. There is
a total of seven cartels that supply America with marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, currently. The
Sinaloa Cartel is present in Charlotte, NC (Bender). So far, police havent found them doing any
kind of violent acts around here, but as they continue to stay, Im sure there will be some conflict
that needs to be dealt with, knowing the reputation of this cartel. Once they establish positions in
the community they are in, they try and recruit others that they can trust to help them operate the
business. Its a constant cycle of hiring people and killing people down in Mexico. People in the
United States dont really know about the presence of cartels here because they are not seeing
bodies pile up in the streets with pictures surfacing the internet as they do in Mexico.
Drug cartels are a bigger threat for the United States than ISIS will ever be. They have a
heavy presence here in the country. Russ Baer, the DEAs staff coordinator for the Office of
Congressional and Public Affairs says in an interview with The Daily Beast, Mexican
transnational criminal organizations pose the greatest criminalthreat to the United States. He
then goes on to state Mexico TCOs will continue to dominate, there are no other organizations
this time with the infrastructure and power to challenge [them] for control. (The Daily Beast)
Cartels are very dangerous to the American citizen and will continue to grow if we do not put an
end to their reign soon.
The corruption in the Mexican government poses a threat for all of its citizens because if
people cant even trust the integrity of their higher leaders, who can they turn to for help? Most
of the homicides do not get solved and when thats the case, anyone could be killing anyone and
getting away with it. Once that happens, its so hard to implement policies that will override that

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because of the corrupt leaders that are supposed to enforce them. If the executive office doesnt
enforce the laws and bring people to face the courts, what is stopping the cartels from killing
each other?.
Tom Wainwright is the Britain editor for The Economist. He has spent time covering the
Mexican illegal drug trade where he has been on Mexican soil to see firsthand what is going on.
He has written a book titled Narconomics and one topic is where he describes the process of how
to defeat the Mexican drug cartels. Wainwright states in an interview with Fresh Air that The
choice that I think we face isnt really a choice between a world without drugs and a world with
drugs, I think the choice we face really is between a world where drugs are controlled by the
governments and prescribed by pharmacists and doctors, and a world where theyre dealt by the
mafia, and given that choice, I think the former sounds more appealing (NPR) I see this as an
interesting point of view that I hadnt thought about before. Starting with the government
regulating some of the drugs would help a lot. Trying to get the streets drug free will be a very
difficult task but look at states such as Colorado, where the medicinal and recreational use of
marijuana is legal. Theres absolutely no evidence that our change in marijuana laws has
contributed to any specific crime increase, said Mason Tvert, an activist who helped pass
legalization in Colorado (Ingold).
The government is supposed to help their citizens to feel protected and safe when there
may be congressmen that know there are killings happening and do nothing about it because they
are business partners with the cartel. Finding the corrupt people in the government isnt as easy
as people would expect it to be either. Cartels arent just going to give up peoples names if they
are helping them get away with things in exchange for money. Money talks and just about
anyone can be bought; its a sad reality when people get elected and the citizens do not know

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which ones work for cartels. Trust is the first step in voting for a person, and once the trust is
broken, it ruins it for everyone. Dont get me wrong, there are good congressmen in the Mexican
government, but like the saying goes, one person can ruin it for everyone. This in turn gives
people a bad view when looking at any person that is elected to office. To distill the trust back
into the citizens of Mexico, and surrounding areas, the government will need to go through a
thorough cleaning and background check of all the members of congress. A law should be
implemented in Mexico where all candidates of congress require an extensive check before being
cleared. Interviews with family members and friends should also be conducted. Even though this
could have flaws, it would be a good start in finding out the good and bad.
Immigration from Mexico to the United States is a big issue for many Americans to think
about because of the stereotypical views that a lot of immigrants have drug related backgrounds
and do nothing but live off welfare. Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, states The
plain fact of the matter is that theres more manpower and technology at that border than ever
before. There are ground sensors, drones, and hundreds of cameras lined up all around the
border. People would think with all of that, no one would get through with illegal drugs, right?
You would think so, but that just isnt the case. Eric Feldman is the Assistant Special Agent in
Charge for Homeland Security Investigations and he states The cartels are always looking for a
guaranteed way to cross narcotics into the US, and a sophisticated tunnel can allow them to cross
large-scale loads. Cartels hire airplane pilots, truck drivers, and even submarine drivers to bring
in tons of illegal drugs into the US (BBC). Drug cartels pay men and women to swallow
narcotics and try and get it across the border. This is very dangerous for the person that
consumed it as a little baggy may burst open and spill the contents inside the victims body.
These victims are known as drug mules and are usually granted the promise that they will be

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able to cross international borders freely, and once they get there the drugs are retrieved from
their bodies. One account was that up to 1kg of cocaine was found in the body of a woman after
the bag had burst open. She died almost immediately.(UNODC)
Without the ongoing support of a strong government, drug cartels will be in the hands of
the future generations that want to see a change. Although people do not see an end coming to
the cartels soon, it could happen in the future that would jeopardize the smoothly running cartels.
This includes the capturing of more kingpins to disrupt the functions and it would slow down
crime tremendously.

Works Cited
Barrett, Devlin. "U.S. Marshals Service Personnel Dressed as Mexican Marines Pursue Cartel
Bosses." The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 21 Nov. 2014.
Bender, Jeremy. "Mexican Cartels That Are Operate in the US." Business Insider, Business Insider,
31 Jan. 2016.
Botelho, Greg, and Michael Martinez. "'Mission Accomplished': Mexican President Says 'El Chapo'
Caught ." CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Jan. 2016.
"Drug Mules: Swallowed by the Illicit Drug Trade." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
UNODC. Accessed 3 Dec. 2016.

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Franzblau, Jesse. "Why is the US Still Spending Billions to Fund Mexico's Corrupt Drug War?" The
Nation, The Nation, 27 Feb. 2015.
"How Do Cartels Get Drugs into the US?" BBC.com, The BBC, 3 Dec. 2015.
Ingold, John. "Marijuana Legalization Unlikely to Blame for Denver Crime Increase." The Denver
Post, Digital First Media, 17 Feb. 2016.
Karaim, Reed. "U.S.-Mexico Relations." CQ Researcher, CQ Press, 6 Sept. 2016.
Kryt, Jeremy. "Mexico's Cartels Are Much More Dangerous to Americans Than ISIS." The Daily
Beast, The Daily Beast, 18 June 2016.
LaSusa, Mike, and Angelika Albaledejo. "US Support for Mexico's Drug War Goes Beyond Guns
and Money." Truthout, Truthout, 1 Dec. 2014.
Lawson, Guy. "How the Cartels Work." RollingStone, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2011.
Luhnow, David, and Nicholas Casey. "Killing Escalates Mexico Drug War." The Wall Street
Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 29 June 2010.
"Huge US-Mexico Drugs Tunnel Found in San Diego." BBC.com, BBC, 21 Apr. 2016.
"Mexico Drug War Fast Facts." CNN.com, Cable News Network, 18 Aug. 2016.
"'Narconomics': How the Drug Cartels Operate Like Wal-Mart and McDonald's." National Public
Radio, NPR, 15 Feb. 2016.
Planas, Roque. "U.S. Security Aid to Mexico Dwindles Amid Human Rights Abuses." Huffington
Post, The Huffington Post, 29 Dec. 2015.
Sanchez, Ray. "El Chapo's next stop? Brooklyn." CNN.com, Cable News Network, 4 Aug. 2016.

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"Secretary Janet Napolitano, Before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs: "Securing the Border: Progress at the Federal Level"." Homeland
Security, Homeland Security, 3 May 2011.
"US Cities by Population. Cities with over 100,000 people." Travel and History, Wordpress, 8 June
2011.
Veiras, Jos Luis Pardo. "A Decade of Failure in the War on Drugs." The New York Times, The New
York Times, 9 Oct. 2016.