THE DRUG WAR: A BIGGER PICTURE
Of the three perspectives, the one that best explains the drug war is El Chapo and the Narco-Spectacle. Mr. Joaquin Guzman, famously known as El Chapo, was the Sinaloa Cartel head before his arrest by the Mexican government. There were long and bloody battles between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Juarez Cartel over the drug trafficking routes. This war between the two drug cartels resulted in 5000-12000 deaths, and the war was lost by the Juarez Cartel. The Sinaloa cartel is said to have infiltrated the Mexican government and military to destroy other cartels to establish its dominance in the drug trafficking business. This cartel had brought about a lot of loss in lives and the disappearance of people. The Mexican government has estimated close to 62,000 people have been declared missing, with most of the disappearances taking place since 2006. (Etter and Lehmuth, 2013).
President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown war to deal with the drug cartel. There has been a visible exponential rise in drug-related violence due to this battle against drug cartels. The Mexican government had often downplayed drug-related violence, brushing it off as well as offer very little information concerning the issue. The exponential rise in drug-related violence has resulted in hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of disappearance of mostly youth. The war launched by President Felipe Calderon against the drug cartels angered the drug cartel gangs who revolted by being more violent in its dealings.
The drug war is not just about drugs, but also other issues that are brought to light. In the last few years, there has been an exponential rise in violence resulting from the struggle between powerful cartels and the need for them to take charge of Mexico’s drug trade. Other than that, these cartels take part in other illegal businesses such as human trafficking, where kidnapped people are trafficked in auctions. The drug cartels also tend to extort small businesses and take advantage of the blockades on the highways where they may take advantage of the unaware locals. They also partake in massive kidnappings, for instance, the disappearance of 43 Mexican students in the south-western Guerrero state in 2014, which is speculated to have been carried out by the gangs involved in the cartels. (Sullivan, 2011)
The drug cartels have also committed serious crimes against security officials and public figures, such as public figures’ assassinations. The list of politicians assassinated by drug cartels are so many, and the places where these politicians have been murdered is in the areas where drug-related violence is prevalent. These cartels publicly display the violence they cause by placing severed heads of their victims in the town squares as some form of warning and draping severely mutilated bodies. They do this as a form of planting terror among their rivals and the locals to establish their dominance. From the above, it is clear that this war is not solely for drugs but also to curb the horrors and trauma that the Mexican drug cartel causes to the Mexican people.
REFERENCES
Etter, G., & Lehmuth, E. L. (2013). The Mexican Drug Wars: Organized Crime, Narco-Terrorism, Insurgency, or Asymmetric Warfare?. Journal of Gang Research, 20(4), 1-34.
Sullivan, J. P. (2011). From drug wars to criminal insurgency: Mexican cartels, criminal enclaves, and criminal insurgency in Mexico and Central America. Implications for global security.
Beittel, J. S. (2012). Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations. Trends in Organized Crime, 15(1), 64-74.