US cracks down on Mexico cartels

[frigidmagi]

BBC

US federal agents have arrested some 750 people across the country in a crackdown on Mexican drug cartels, US Attorney General Eric Holder has said.

Among them were 52 people arrested on Wednesday in California, Minnesota and Maryland in raids targeting the powerful Sinaloa cartel, he said.

Agents also seized 23 tonnes of drugs in the 21-month operation.

A 2008 justice department report found Mexican traffickers were the biggest organised crime threat to the US.

Most of the cocaine available in the US is smuggled via the US-Mexican border, while Mexican drug traffickers control most of the US drug market.

US Attorney General Eric Holder (file image)
Eric Holder said 52 suspects were arrested in raids on Wednesday
Mexican smugglers are also increasingly working with US gangs, the report found.

The Sinaloa cartel is one of four main Mexican drug-trafficking groups, the others being the Gulf cartel, the Tijuana cartel and the Juarez cartel.

The US Congress has authorised the spending of $1.6bn (£1.1bn) dollars to confront the threat of drug trafficking and organised crime from Mexico and Central America.

So far, $197m (£138m) has been released for military and law enforcement training and equipment in Mexico.


Some 6,000 people were killed last year in Mexico in violence linked to organized crime. Mexican media reported that by mid-February this year there had already been 1,000 killings.

Frankly all we can do is damage control without taking out the Mexico side of the cartels. But short of ignoring Mexico's sovereignty (which seems to me to be a solution worse then the damn problem) I'm not sure what can be done. Thoughts?

[Cynical Cat]

It's not going to go away soon. There's a huge market for drugs in the US and that means profits for organized crime. There's too much money for them not to be involved and that money corrupts everything it touches. As for the Mexico side, last week drug gangs in a border city murdered a cop every 48 hours to force the resignation of a police chief they didn't like and it worked. This problem isn't going away.

[The Minx]

I suspect a concerted effort between Mexico and the US is needed before things get better. But what are the chances of such a scheme not only coming into being, but being efficient enough for the task?

[frigidmagi]

I find it unlikely that the Mexican government will go for a full out cooperative effort out of fears of US dominance, nor will the US agencies really trust or treat their Mexican counterparts as equals due to the corruption and lack of resources of the same.