1. Roqeeb Giwa
Latin America Honors
Mr. Ensdorf
4/26/2014
Current drug war along the US and Mexico border
As of now there’s a huge war in Mexico between the Mexican government and drug
traffickers. At the same time, drug cartels are fighting each other for control of territories in
Mexico. This war has been going on for over 6 years because the former president Felipe
Calderon felt the need to declare war on drug cartels. Over 60,000 people have been killed
during this war (Council of Foreign Relations, March 5, 2014) and the deaths seem to be
increasing daily. More than 20, 000 people are considered disappeared. Mexican /U.S border is
used to smuggle not only drugs but weapons to Mexico and the U.S (ISR, Redmond, Helen).
Over half of guns recovered from Mexican criminal activity originated from sales in the United
States which are smuggled across the border (Council of Foreign Relations, March 5, 2014).
Ninety percent of the drugs that enters the U.S. comes’ through the Mexican border(Council of
Foreign Relations, March 5, 2014). The mutual relationship between the U.S and Mexico on the
border and as a nation plays a major role in this war. The high crime rate in Mexico seems to be
increasing daily and this war doesn’t help the cause. Both the Mexican and U.S government are
giving it their all to putting an end to this war. Is there hope to the end of drug war in Mexico?
Firstly, Mexico has been named one of the world's most sophisticated drug networks. For
example, Most of the U.S drugs come from Mexico through the Mexican border making the U.S
Mexico’s number one customer when it comes to drug consumption. Also, Mexican drug cartels
take in between $19 and $29 billion annually from U.S. drug sales and most of these drugs are
smuggled into the U.S. through the border (CNN News, March 15, 2014). This means that a

2. large sum of Mexicans drug income comes from the U.S, making the relationship between the
U.S and Mexico a very close and important relationship economically, to the cause of the war,
and putting an end to the war. The U.S and Mexico share a mutual relationship concerning both
economies. The U.S economy depends on México’s’ and Mexico’s economy depends on the
U.S. The U.S economy depends on Mexican immigrants who come into the U.S to look for jobs.
These immigrants come into the U.S looking for low paying jobs that they can used to take care
of their family. Most American citizens believe that these immigrants come in to the U.S to take
away their jobs but actually illegal immigrants take on jobs American citizens don’t want to do.
These are jobs like farming, gardening etc. These immigrants account for 24% of farm workers
(New York Times ,Julia Prestonand, May 17, 2007) the U.S economy really depends on food
and agriculture which a large percent of illegal immigrants are accounted for. No illegal
immigrants means no food for the U.S. Mexico’s economy depends on the U.S due to facts that
if compared to the U.S, Mexico’s economy income is nowhere close to the U.S economy’s’
income. Mexico’s economy depends on the investment of U.S tourist that goes into Mexico to
invest in businesses, go for vacation etc. Also, Corruption and weakness in Mexico's government
and police departments have largely allowed the drug trade to flourish along the Mexican
borders. This means that drug cartels have infected a part of the Mexican government and
influenced them with bribes to make their drug business more successful (Council of Foreign
Relations, March 5, 2014. Also, this corruption has soon spread to the U.S government. Mexican
drug cartels are recruiting American soldiers to act as hit men in the United States and paying
them thousands of dollars to eliminate federal informants and organized crime rivals (NY Daily
news, September 13, 2013).
Secondly, Mexico’s crime rate seems to be increasing daily and the drug war doesn’t
seem to be helping its cause. For example, there are approximately 6,700 licensed firearms
dealers in the U.S. along the U.S.-Mexico border. There is only one legal firearms retailer in
Mexico (CNN Library, March 15, 2014). This means that mostly all gun owners in Mexico don’t
have a license for their weapon which might be the reason of Mexico’s high crime rate because
it’s easy for everyone to get a gun. Also, over half of the guns recovered from Mexican criminal
activity originated from sales in the United States which are smuggled to Mexico through the
border. This means that the U.S plays a huge role in the increase of Mexico’s crime rate. Lastly,
Mexico's drug cartels have splintered, forged alliances, battled one another for territory, and

3. evolved over the decades (Council of Foreign Relations, March 5, 2014). This means that not
only is there a high crime rate in Mexico but the drug war between cartels also adds on to the
problem. Drug Cartels battle each other every day over territories and random citizens and
people are caught in this cross fire. They kill people horrifically just to send or prove a point.
Some of their horrific killing styles are dressing a wounded man as a police officer and then
luring law enforcement to his side by calling in a report of an officer down. Also, Drug cartels
live on both sides of the border. Street gangs with cartel ties are not only in Los Angeles and
Dallas, but also in many smaller cities across the United States and much farther north of the
Mexican border. Mexican cartels are proven to be in over 1,000 U.S. cities. The violence the
drug war is not only in Mexico but somehow it has managed to spread its wings into the U.S.
Authorities in Arizona, Georgia and other states have reported abductions and killings similar to
that of the drug cartels in Mexico. For example, On July 15, the Juarez drug cartel detonated a
car bomb on the streets of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, less than a mile from the U.S. border. When
first responders attempted to help a wounded man, a car bomb with more than 20 pounds of
explosives inside was detonated, killing four people and wounding 20 (ABC News). These Drug
Cartels are not helping to put an end to this war but are rather fueling it. The crackdown on cartel
leaders splintered the organizations. This has created between 60-80 new drug trafficking gangs.
Lastly, the U.S/Mexican governments have done a lot to put a stop to the end of this war.
For example, the U.S. has spent millions of dollars on increasing its security across the border
and recently we just successfully captured the leader of the dominant drug-trafficking
organization in Mexico, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman (Mexico's Drug War, New York Times).
In addition, the Mexican government is also putting all their effort in ending this war and they
are proving to be successful in their effort. So far the Mexican government has killed more than
40 major cartel members (Mexico's Drug War, New York Times) and it looks like there’s finally
a sign of hope to the end of this drug war. They have also tried to prevent the amount of
corruptions in the government by deploying tens of thousands of military personnel to replace
local police forces. Due to this strategy the Mexican government has successfully made several
high-profile arrests and killings of cartel leaders. With cooperation with the United States, the
Mexican government has killed or captured 25 of the top rank and most wanted drug
organizations in Mexico. Both the U.S and The Mexican government are finally starting to prove
effective in this war. Lastly, both the U.S and the Mexican government have joined forces to put

4. an end to this war. The U.S government has supplied the Mexican government with funding and
intelligences to increase Mexico's institutional capacity to address drug trafficking and to end the
war as soon as possible. During Felipe Calderon’s time in office as Mexico’s president, he tried
to aggressively approach the drug cartels by declaring war on them. He sent Mexican military
across the country and fired lots of México’s’ corrupt police officers. The declaration of war by
Calderon led to the bloodshed of thousands of people which included cartel members, police and
civilians who were caught in the middle of a gruesome war between Calderon and the drug
cartels. President Enrique Peña Nieto, upon taking office in late 2012, promised to make the
Mexican government first priority to ending this was is to stop curbing kidnappings, extortion,
and every other forms of violence caused by the war. So far Peña strategy seems to be bringing
good results. His idea has contribute to the capture of high-profile of drug lords, including
Mexico's most wanted kingpin, Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman of the Sinaloa Cartel . Peña’s strategy
seems to have proven more successful than the former president Calderon. Calderon focused
more on a head on and aggressive solution to end the war. He decided to go fully at the drug
cartels, disregarding the effect it would have on the innocents. Peña is basing his solution on a
more strategic idea rather than an aggressive one. He is trying to save the people who Calderon
has forcibly dragged into the war them work his way to the cartels. Peña has done more help to
the war than Calderon had done to the cause of the war.
In Conclusion, Is there an end to the drug war in Mexico? The Mexican drug war has
been going on for a long time and it doesn’t seem to be at its wits. This war has involved both the
U.S and the Mexican government. The U.S and Mexican’s relationship has played a huge role in
this war. Since we are neighbors the U.S and Mexico have reached a very mutual relationship
both positively and negatively. The U.S supplies Mexico with guns. Mexico supplies the U.S
with drugs. Both countries’ government seems to have realized these mutual relations, which is
why they’ve joined forces to put an end to this war. During an interview with the now-elected
president of Mexico whom was asked, “What are the most important things you have to do to lift
it out of its hole of drug violence and anemic economic growth?” He said, “I’m feeling a
renewed sense of hope and optimism about what we can do in the coming years. First, restore
peace and tranquility in Mexico, which means altering our public security strategy: more
effective law enforcement coordination, stronger judicial institutions…..” (Padgett Tim, Time). I
agree with this theory and believe that in order to stop this war, the Mexican government has to

5. fix its’ corrupted government. They need to build a stronger security in Mexico itself and across
the border, but unfortunately this sounds more like a myth than an actual possibility if the
thought of the escalation of this war is been revised thoroughly. I believe with the U.S
government and the Mexican government working together this idea could actually be
accomplished. It all comes down to how? When? And how long it’s going to take for this to
happen? Also, in order for this war to end the U.S has to reduce the demand for drugs. This
would cause a huge dent in the cartels’ businesses. Based on facts, we all know that drug cartels
collect a huge sum of money annually from smuggling drugs to the U.S. Reducing the demand
for drugs would reduce the large income these cartels get from the U.S. This process would
slowly start to affect the use and before you know it these cartels start to lose power, territory
and wealth, which is the reason why the war was declared in the first place. Also the U.S.
government has to stop the trafficking of weapons from the United States to Mexico through the
border because statistics has proven that all of the killings done by drug cartels are done with
guns smuggled into Mexico and most of it coming from the U.S. Basically in order for this war
to end, Mexico and The U.S. have to fix the negative relationship they have between one
another. What people fail to realize is that this war has led to the bloodshed of countless of
innocent lives that are caught in the crossfire of the battle for territory between drug cartels, and
the battle between drug cartels and the Mexican government. If the drug war isn’t put an end to,
the amount of bloodshed this war will bring would be immeasurable. The drug war could not
only threaten U.S. national security but even survival of the Mexican state. This War has to end!
President Enrique Peña Nieto, upon taking office in late 2012, promised to make the Mexican
government first priority to ending this was is to stop curbing kidnappings, extortion, and every
other forms of violence caused by the war (Council of Foreign Relations, March 5, 2014). So far
Peña strategy seems to be bringing good results. His idea has contribute to the capture of high-
profile of drug lords, including Mexico's most wanted kingpin, Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman of the
Sinaloa Cartel. Peña’s strategy seems to have proven more successful than the former president
Calderon. Calderon focused more on a head on and aggressive solution to end the war. He
decided to go fully at the drug cartels, disregarding the effect it would have on the innocents.
Peña is basing his solution on a more strategic idea rather than an aggressive one. He is trying to
save the people who Calderon has forcibly dragged into the war them work his way to the
cartels. Peña has done more help to the war than Calderon had done to the cause of the war.

6. Bibliography
Libary CNN. . http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/americas/mexico-drug-war-fast-facts/.
News ABC.. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/photos/drug-war-us-mexico-border-
11367223/image-11383598.
NY Times.. Maung, Maung. n.d., n. pag.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/mexico/drug_trafficking/.
NY Daily..D, Hastings.. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/drug-cartels-mexico-hire-u-s-
soldiers-assassins-article-1.1454851.
Council on Foreign Relations.. B, Lee.. http://www.cfr.org/mexico/mexicos-drug-war/p13689.
Primary Source:
An Interview with Mexico’s President on his view concerning the Mexican Drug War
World. Time.. T, Padgett, Mexico’s Peña Nieto Talks to TIME: ‘We Can Move Beyond the Drug War,” 30
Nov. 2012, http://world.time.com/2012/11/30/mexicos-pena-nieto-talks-to-time-we-can-move-beyond-
the-drug-war/.