Mexican
Drug Cartels threaten the United
States
By Michael Webster:
Investigative Reporter
May 26, 2008 2:00 p.m. PDT
As America wages its war on
drugs and terror with costs to
the tax payer in the billions
organized criminal gangs here in
the U.S. have merged with the
Mexican drug cartels, the threat
to U.S. interests from an
emerging international crime
cartel grows more serious every
day.
Groups like the Sinaloa, Juarez,
Tijuana, gulf Cartels, has
virtually taken over law
enforcement and high ranking
Mexican government officials in
their host country and are
dangerous and significant
players on the international
stage, carrying out their
criminal activities across
borders and threatening the
stability and interests of the
United States. In other words
they are a big security threat
to this nation.
Fresh evidence of this growing
threat comes from the powerful
Mexican cartels which is
already responsible for up to 80
percent of the cocaine that
reaches the United States, and
are increasingly able to operate
above the law, buying off or
even killing the government
officials who are supposed to
work with U.S. law- enforcement
agencies to crack down on crime.
What's worse, the cartels have
now forged alliances with
American street gangs, giving
these drug cartels a deep reach
into American life and through
that alliance with our gangs
that gives them control over
most of the $300 to $500 billion
American drug trade, the largest
in the world. These cartels have
become a global crime
corporation with an
international reach of illegal
franchises spanning the world.
The ability of these Mexican
drug cartels to operate with
complete disregard for the law
on both sides of the border –
trafficking in drugs, weapons,
humans, terrorists,
prostitution, and money
laundering is now threatening to
destabilize the American economy
and our way of life, especially
in poor areas and in our
projects and barrios. By
corrupting our government
officials and buying and
undermining legitimate American
business enterprises, these
criminal aliments threaten to
set back what little progress we
as a nation have made in regards
to American poor minorities and
their offspring gang members,
and already in the case of
Mexico, could forestall reform
there indefinitely.
Federal authorities point to the
Mexican drug cartels that are
ultimately responsible for
border violence by having
cemented ties to street and
prison gangs like El Paso's
Barrio Azteca on the U.S. side
of the border. Azteca like many
other U.S. gangs retail drugs
that they get from Mexican
cartels and their gangs.
One Of The Most Dangerous In
Nation
Mexican gangs also run their own
distribution networks in the
United States, and they produce
most of the methamphetamine used
north of the border. They have
even bypassed the Colombians
several times to buy cocaine
directly from producers in
Bolivia, Peru and even
Afghanistan. These same gangs
often work as cartel surrogates
or enforcers on the U.S. side of
the border. Intelligence
suggests Los Zetas
They're known as "Los Zetas
have hired members of various
gangs at different times
including, El Paso gang
Barrio
Azteca,
Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate,
MS-13, and Hermanos Pistoleros
Latinos to further their
criminal endeavors.
Dangerous
Mexican Cartel Gangs
The list of crimes the new
international criminal
organizations are involved in is
long. They traffic in drugs,
people, and chemical, biological
and nuclear material. They
perpetrate billions of dollars
worth of fraud against banks,
businesses and governments. They
destroy lives, undermine
economies, and diminish
confidence in political and
economic reform, and spread
corruption and violence. In
short, they have become an
international security threat.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,
chairman of the Senate
Anti-Narcotics Caucus, in a
speech at The Heritage
Foundation, a Washington think
tank
said “Clearly, we need to devise
a new foreign policy to deal
with these criminal groups -- to
put them out of business and in
jail.” But what we really need
is a homeland defense policy
that which will stem the flow of
illegal commerce crossing
unabated into our country. In a
speech to the United Nations,
President Clinton acknowledged
the growing threat posed by
international criminal groups
such as the Mexican drug
cartels, and called for stronger
efforts to fight these
organizations. So we have known
about this problem for a long
time. A ranking House
Republican has demanded a
hearing based on recent reports
that Islamic terrorists embedded
in the United States are teaming
with Mexican drug cartels to
fund terrorism networks
overseas.
Rep. Ed Royce, ranking
Republican on the House Foreign
Affairs terrorism and
nonproliferation subcommittee,
said the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) document —
first reported by The Washington
Times — highlights how
vulnerable the nation is when
fighting the war on drugs and
terrorism.
Sen. Grassley
further stated “Such efforts
must achieve several goals:
dismantle the major criminal
groups, stiffen the penalties
for engaging in international
crime, and foster international
cooperation to counter the
actions of criminal elements.”
U.S. policy-makers must take
concrete steps to meet today’s
massive challenges in regards to
these Mexican drug cartels. We
as Americans must protect our
borders and keep these dangerous
elements out of this country. We
must beef up intelligence
capabilities against key groups
and their leaders. We must work
with Mexico other countries to
strengthen their legal systems
and police forces. We must
enhance our ability to monitor
the flow of money to prevent
criminal organizations from
abusing American, Mexican,
international financial and
banking systems. And we must
increase Americans awareness of
the great threat these cartels
pose and forge a united front to
bring them to justice.
The political corruption
scandals in Mexico, the brazen
ruthlessness of the Mexican drug
cartels, and U.S. streets awash
in drugs to meet the multi
billion dollar demand -- all are
the product of ruthless criminal
organizations willing to trample
human life and dignity in their
rush for ill-gotten gain.
Like Mexico, Colombia, and other
countries the United States must
start dealing with the fact that
is facing us as a new political
threat from international
criminal activity. But we see
the impact of the international
crime on our streets every day,
in the wasted lives and drug
violence tearing our cities
apart. Soon if America does not
take action much of the current
Mexican type carnage of
kidnappings for ransom, murders
and the gangland style
beheadings of the drug cartels
may become common place right
here in America.
As the most powerful country on
earth, the United States has an
obligation to lead the world in
crafting a tough, international
response. Just as 1st
President Bush put together a
coalition to counter the threat
posed by Saddam Hussein, so too
must the new President who takes
office in January 09 must start
working with congress and law
enforcement in challenging the
threat posed by the new
international crime cartels that
are right on our southern
border.
The
Cold War may be over, but
America still has enemies in the
world. Emerging international
crime cartels are simply the
latest. The United States cannot
afford to ignore this problem,
but must begin to fashion a
foreign-policy response as tough
as the stand we take against
criminal groups here at home.
Over 1,500 people have been
killed in Mexico so far this
year, according to Mexican news
reports. Most of the slayings
have taken place in states that
are hubs for drug trafficking
and organized crime. In one day
last week, alone,
Mexico recorded 40 executions.
These murders are the most
violent of episodes that are
believed ordered by Mexican
cartels with some of the victims
being American citizens.
Penny Starr Senior Staff Writer
for CNSNews.com reports that a
U.S. State Department report on
"non-natural deaths" of U.S.
citizens abroad says that 126
Americans were victims of
homicides or "executions" in
Mexico between Jan. 1, 2005 and
Dec. 31, 2007. A total of 667
Americans were killed in Mexico
by "non-natural" causes during
that period.
See
report on "non-natural deaths"
The State Department says the
report "is based solely on cases
reported by American citizens to
our posts abroad," which leaves
open the question of how
complete or accurate it may be.
Many of the reported homicides
took place just across the
southern border of the United
States. Twenty-nine took place
within the city of Tijuana,
which sits just south of San
Diego, California.
The two deaths described in the
State Department report as
"executions" both occurred in
the Mexican state of Chihuahua,
which borders the United States.
One of those executions was
reported to have taken place on
Jan. 21, 2007 in Ciudad Juarez,
just across the border from El
Paso, Texas.
See
statement
The report specifically notes
the violence in Tijuana and
Ciudad Juarez, stating that:
"Dozens of U.S. citizens were
kidnapped and/or murdered in
Tijuana in 2007."
See
travel alert
Dr.
Viviane S. Stein
