Politics To The Dogs And Impossible War
Posted on 29. Jul, 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in Politics
When Fidel, a bull terrier is put up as a candidate for local elections, you are assured that politics has finally well and truly gone to the dogs. Fidel’s owner is protesting against corruption in politics, in the local elections in Guadalajara, Mexico. He says he is fed up with political corruption and hopes others will get the message.
Mexico however, is a country that is being ravaged by drug cartels, feuding over the control of lucrative trafficking routes into America. Not only do the cartels fight violent battles against each other, they now have to fight 36,000 specially deployed soldiers, as well as the federal police. More than 10,000 people have been killed in gangland-type violence since President Felipe Calderon launched his aggressive military crackdown against the drug cartels, two and a half years ago.
In less than two days, thirty people were shot and killed, including twelve police officers. The twelve tortured bodies were lined up on the edge of the road. The killings are believed to have been the work of the ‘La Familia’ drug cartel that operates vigorously in the area. La Familia is deemed Mexico’s most dangerous criminal gang.
Cartel spies are everywhere, following every move the soldiers make, making it easy for the drug cartels to evade the soldiers.
It is estimated over 2,700 people have already died through organized drug-related crimes this year. Last year the drug war reported around 6290 killed, compared to the 2,700 in 2007 and the 1,500 in 2006.
The Mexican drug trafficking cartels represent the greatest organized crime threat to the USA, said a recent Justice Department report. The drug cartels earn billions of dollars more than the Mexican government can spend to defeat them. The cartels bolster their ranks with numerous politicians, judges, prison guards and police officers. In cities right across Mexico the entire police force has had to be disbanded and rebuilt.
The top organized crime prosecutor was arrested for receiving drug-related cash, as was the director of Interpol for Mexico. The cartels slipped a mole inside the United States Embassy. Anyone in a senior position who resists taking a pay off from the cartels, is often shot.
Heads of State from America visited Mexico in an effort to arrive at some solution to the wide spread and ever-escalating drug war, which is spilling over into the United States. The Obama administration has tightened security on the U.S. –Mexico border and pledged $80 million to assist Mexico purchase Black Hawk helicopters, in an attempt to defeat the well-armed drug cartels.
Police say up to 90% of the assault weapons used by Mexican gangs, including the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, come from the United States. During her visit to Mexico, Hilary Clinton said the US must take part of the blame for drug-related violence in Mexico. “America’s appetite for drugs and its inability to stop arms crossing the border were helping fuel the violence.”
During a recent drug patrol in Reynosa, a Mexican soldier whispered to a reporter, out of earshot of his commander, “Sometimes, I think this is a war you can’t really win. You do what you can, but there’s so many more of them than us.”
Washington militaryanalysts are asking if Mexico will crumble under the strain of the war.
