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Column 062308 Brewer

Monday, June 23, 2008

U.S. Drug Demand Unleashes a Bloodbath in Mexico

By Jerry Brewer

By virtually every measure of the definitions of the word

"terrorism," terrorism has clearly reached our southern border.
There should be no confusion as to said fact. Too, it is
abundantly clear that this enemy is not and does not have to
have Middle Eastern connotations such as radical Islamic
fundamentalists.

What brings this version of terrorism to the southern United

States border?

The issue emphatically is control of the source of drugs and the

supply chain that delivers drugs to retail customers in the United
States. A voracious U.S. drug habit of nearly US$60 billion
annually is the catalyst for the ritual slaughter throughout
Mexico, especially along its northern border.

The many faces of terrorism have commonalities. These are

“criminal acts, including against civilians … with the purpose to
provoke a state of terror in the general public or [other] persons,
intimidate a population or compel a government … to do or
abstain from doing any act…." (UN Security Council Resolution
1566)

The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center considers Mexican

drug cartels as "dominating the U.S. illicit drug market." As an
example, 90% of the cocaine entering the United States transits
Mexico. The Center believes that Mexican cartels control the
transportation and wholesale distribution of most illicit drugs in
every area of the country except the northeast; "… and are
expanding there."

What is the real magnitude of this violence?

Over 1,600 deaths so far this year. Over 450 killed in Ciudad
Juarez across from El Paso, Texas alone. The killings overall
are up nearly 30 percent over last year. Reports of the recent
killing of a 12-year-old girl in downtown Juarez clearly
demonstrates the "civilian" aspect of terrorism defined.

The murder of innocents and civilians are indeed significant, as

well as cowardly. However, an especially frightening aspect to a
nation to the north is the ritual slaughter of policemen, senior
police and other government officials, as well as media
representatives. In May alone no fewer than six senior police
officials were killed. One of the strategic targets of the terrorist
assassins was the head of the Mexican federal police – the
highest-ranking federal law enforcement officer in Mexico. The
director of investigations against organized crime for Mexico's
state public security police (SSP) was killed as he returned to
his home.

Weapons in many of these ritual killings have been described

as .380 caliber handguns fitted with a suppressor. This
indicative of professionally targeted assassination. Mexican
official’s interrogation of one captured gunman "led to the recent
arrest of five other hired suspects allegedly tied to the
assassination gang." As many as 40 gunmen from a rival
organized crime drug cartel that attacked and killed the son of
Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, were
reported to have used AK-47 rifles and a rocket-propelled
grenade launcher.

President Felipe Calderon's counter-drug offensive is showing

good signs of progress. This indicated via the repositioning of
cartels, ensuing violence, rising drug prices and other signs of
instability. A senior DEA administrator commented that agency
officials believed there are "stockpiles of cocaine in Colombia
that they are afraid to send to Mexico because they have taken
so many losses."

It is a tacit fact, given the magnitude of violence, death, and

supreme weaponry exhibited by the cartel terrorists that as long
as there is a U.S. drug demand yielding enormous wealth for
the organized criminals, the border cannot and will not be
sealed. Legalization will not happen. Anti-drug efforts are far
more proactive than increased levels of addiction and the social
costs associated with such a massive effort. Legalization in the
U.S. failed miserably when Alaska experimented with it in the
1970s. Alaska's voters were quick to vote no. Marijuana
legalization in Holland has resulted in a tripling of heroin
addiction.

Supporting a drug legalization process also gives organized

criminals, terrorists and assassins the message that intimidation
via supreme weaponry, death, and mayhem in killing those who
make the laws and those who enforce them, makes them an
instrument of the terrorists’ control.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations are on U.S. soil. They
have established a highly sophisticated smuggling infrastructure
within. U.S. street gangs, prison gangs, as well as outlaw
motorcycle gangs are significant traffickers for the cartels. The
astronomical amounts of U.S. currency flowing south of the
border back into Mexico are indeed blood money.

Mexico's fight against the drug cartels faces a new threat. The
"mega-cartel" is emerging as some rival factions fuse together
in a show of superior power against police. The United States
must step up as a nation united in this most crucial fight in
defense of two sovereign neighbors.

——————————
Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice
International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm
headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a guest columnist with
MexiData.info. jbrewer@cjiausa.org