As Americans went to the polls last week, Juan Camilo Mourino, Mexico's interior secretary, was falling to Earth over the capital in a fiery crash that killed him and 13 others.
Investigators are trying to determine why the helicopter carrying Mexico's second-highest official failed, but many think it was the work of drug cartels that Mexico has been at war with since 2006.
If traffickers were indeed responsible, they have sent a signal that they're coming for the government and can take down Mexico's leaders anywhere, anytime. If it was an accident, there's the disturbing implication that Mexico's aircraft are deficient even for its leaders. Either way, the U.S. ought to do more to help.
Some 4,400 Mexicans have been killed in the drug war this year alone — including a record 58 in one day last week. Grisly killings of honest cops, officials, innocent bystanders, kidnap victims and other traffickers engulf border towns like Juarez and Tijuana.
But the carnage is spreading even to formerly placid vacation spots such as Rosarito Beach on the west coast. The tourists, of course, are gone, U.S. State Department travel advisories are up, and local economies are withering.
Mexico has also become the kidnapping capital of the world, not only in numbers but in viciousness. Victims are often killed even after a ransom is paid. And they're no longer confined to the wealthy.
A week ago, the 5-year-old son of impoverished street merchants was taken and then, when a ransom wasn't paid, killed with an injection of acid into his heart. This week, 27 farm laborers were kidnapped. Twenty-six Americans have also been abducted in Mexico, and there are signs that it's spreading north of the border. A few weeks ago, 8-year-old Cole Puffenberger of Las Vegas was taken because a relative owed debts to drug cartels.
Two years ago, when Mexico went on the offensive against the drugs, every analyst dismissed the idea of Mexico becoming "another Colombia." No one believed that the impact of the drug trade could ever be as pervasive as in that South American country.
There, drug lords aligned with Marxist terrorists, burned down the Supreme Court, won seats in Congress and fought pitched battles with weapons more advanced than those used by the Colombian military. By 1998, they had nearly toppled the government.
The country was saved by a U.S. infusion of $6 billion in training and equipment that gave the country the tools it needed to fight back. That aid, combined with strong Colombian leadership, has worked wonders. Today, Colombia is a growing country with safe cities and victory in sight.
The U.S. still spends $600 million to train drug-fighters in Colombia, but that's $200 million more than we give Mexico for the same purpose. All of this pales in comparison with the $3 billion a year we send to Israel and the $1 billion sent to Georgia for reconstruction after the Russian attack, not to mention the $10 billion a month that goes to defending and rebuilding Iraq.
Yet we have a long, unguarded border with Mexico, where the drug war claimed more victims last year than the U.S. has suffered in fatalities since the war in Iraq began in 2003.
This is a bad skewing of priorities, and not just because of Mexico's proximity to the U.S., its capacity to ship millions of illegal immigrants and its status as America's second-largest trading partner.
The war Mexico is fighting is fueled by drug consumption north of the border, reason enough for the U.S. to share responsibility, as Mexico has asked. Mexico's war also has more potential to spread here than any other, and its insidious violence has a capacity to corrupt institutions and create insecurity. It should not fight this alone.
Investigators are trying to determine why the helicopter carrying Mexico's second-highest official failed, but many think it was the work of drug cartels that Mexico has been at war with since 2006.
If traffickers were indeed responsible, they have sent a signal that they're coming for the government and can take down Mexico's leaders anywhere, anytime. If it was an accident, there's the disturbing implication that Mexico's aircraft are deficient even for its leaders. Either way, the U.S. ought to do more to help.
Some 4,400 Mexicans have been killed in the drug war this year alone — including a record 58 in one day last week. Grisly killings of honest cops, officials, innocent bystanders, kidnap victims and other traffickers engulf border towns like Juarez and Tijuana.
But the carnage is spreading even to formerly placid vacation spots such as Rosarito Beach on the west coast. The tourists, of course, are gone, U.S. State Department travel advisories are up, and local economies are withering.
Mexico has also become the kidnapping capital of the world, not only in numbers but in viciousness. Victims are often killed even after a ransom is paid. And they're no longer confined to the wealthy.
A week ago, the 5-year-old son of impoverished street merchants was taken and then, when a ransom wasn't paid, killed with an injection of acid into his heart. This week, 27 farm laborers were kidnapped. Twenty-six Americans have also been abducted in Mexico, and there are signs that it's spreading north of the border. A few weeks ago, 8-year-old Cole Puffenberger of Las Vegas was taken because a relative owed debts to drug cartels.
Two years ago, when Mexico went on the offensive against the drugs, every analyst dismissed the idea of Mexico becoming "another Colombia." No one believed that the impact of the drug trade could ever be as pervasive as in that South American country.
There, drug lords aligned with Marxist terrorists, burned down the Supreme Court, won seats in Congress and fought pitched battles with weapons more advanced than those used by the Colombian military. By 1998, they had nearly toppled the government.
The country was saved by a U.S. infusion of $6 billion in training and equipment that gave the country the tools it needed to fight back. That aid, combined with strong Colombian leadership, has worked wonders. Today, Colombia is a growing country with safe cities and victory in sight.
The U.S. still spends $600 million to train drug-fighters in Colombia, but that's $200 million more than we give Mexico for the same purpose. All of this pales in comparison with the $3 billion a year we send to Israel and the $1 billion sent to Georgia for reconstruction after the Russian attack, not to mention the $10 billion a month that goes to defending and rebuilding Iraq.
Yet we have a long, unguarded border with Mexico, where the drug war claimed more victims last year than the U.S. has suffered in fatalities since the war in Iraq began in 2003.
This is a bad skewing of priorities, and not just because of Mexico's proximity to the U.S., its capacity to ship millions of illegal immigrants and its status as America's second-largest trading partner.
The war Mexico is fighting is fueled by drug consumption north of the border, reason enough for the U.S. to share responsibility, as Mexico has asked. Mexico's war also has more potential to spread here than any other, and its insidious violence has a capacity to corrupt institutions and create insecurity. It should not fight this alone.
Do you think the U.S. should help finance or even send our military to help stop the violence in Mexico due to the drug trade?
40 comments:
I think we need to help the Mexican government and its people asap. But there are a few problems with that situation. First of all, we cant send over millions and millions of dollars to the government in hopes that the leaders, of Mexico, are able to reconstruct and establish their country. The Mafia is taking over almost the entire government either in secret, or open so that everyone knows. So our money will be embezzled in some way or another to help traffic drugs.
Secondly, if we were to send our troops over our borders and into the ruins of Mexico, the Mafia will know ahead of time and will already be prepared to massacre our troops. They dont want the US military to intervine with their interventions. Sure we were able to send troops and send money to Columbia, but Columbia isnt anywhere near the size of Mexico and its inhabitants.
Nevertheless we need to urgently find new ways of helping and stoping the drug trafficing from Mexico to America; and a big fence isnt going to do much help.
I think that the U.S. should do whatever we possibly can to help control this problem. If it's already started in Las Vegas, who's to say it won't spread around the world and country.
I think that the american armed forces should go and help mexico because mexico is right next door and the fighting can easily slip into the US. Mexico is a country with such rich cultrue, and it is slowly diminshing because of all the fighting going on. the border towns need some of the most help beacuse thats where most of the fighting is going on, but m pretty sure all of mexico is feeling the fighting going on.
yes, i do believe that our government should aid mexico by sending troops to help slow down this spread of viscous crimes. Mexico is our neighboring country where there is no defined border and anyone can cross, including drug cartels. The fact that there has been more deaths than the war in Iraq is just unimaginable. The drug cartels could very well be a greater threat to our security than terrorists in Iraq. Also, we really must step in when some of our own citizens are being harmed and killed. There has to be a point when enough is enough.
I think the United States should definitely help out because for one thing, we have seen success in this financial aid method. More importantly, while the drug dealers may be located in Mexico, the overwhelming majority of their customers are in the USofA. Striving to find a solution to this dilemma is an investment that will undoubtedly pay off. And if we decide to help immediately, we can definitely find a solution while it is still in the early stages. If we simply wait it out, the situation will only get worse.
I think that the U.S. does have the right to fund the war on drugs in Mexico, but only under more extreme circumstances can we send our own military in to help fight. We don't know what is happening in there as well as their won government does, so we should try to make them the power.
Yes and no.
I think they should send out military down, because they need help and plus you never know what can happen if it keep getting close.
I also think no, becaus i mean they have their own government already. Hard to say, but that their problem. We are trying to get a people back not let our people die.
I just think its best that way.
I don't think that the U.S. should meddle with Mexican affairs. That's not to say we cannot fund the war against drugs in Mexico, but sending troops in is a little severe.
Americans should make a well informed decision on this situation. Remember that America is supposed to try and stay neutral.
I think that we should try everything to stop this problem because if we just let it go, who knows it could develop into an even bigger problem than what we have imagined. Also if its already to the point that we have problems here in the U.S then we need to do something quick.
i think we should help them by sending money but i dont beleive we need to send are troops over there, we have are own war right now. we should still help mexico as much as possible in other ways.
Financially, I believe we can help Mexico. Mostly because American financial aid has been effective in other parts of the world. However, with the conflicts in Lebanon, Georgia, Iraq, Afghanistan, I believe military assistance might be pushing it. Ultimately, no matter how it gets done, it's vital that the situation gets taken care of immediately before it leaks into the other parts of the world.
I think America should help Mexico. Not only to save ourselves, but to help the natives. I know I would be thankful if another country came to help if someone was threatening us.
I think that its not necessarily the United States "responsibility" to help Mexico with its problems. They are the ones that have let this issue escalate to the condition that it is in today. We should, in our own best interest, help though. For one, the giving of aid and the funding of trooops would give them the protection they need and prevent any fighting from coming over into the US.
I think the U.S. should help but i also don't know how much they can help without getting hurt. it's kind of like the war in Iraq, if the Mexicans don't really want us there, we'll be fighting another uphill battle. we should definitely give them our financial support because what's a few more dollars of debt, right? This matter is close to home, so it scares people, as it should, but you can't just do an intervention on the country of Mexico and make the world a better place... if military support is sent in, there needs to be a clear and defined plan.
I think that the U.S. should help with this problem. Since the fighting is in Mexico, i think that we can easily get involved with it.
Mexico should be one of our top priorities. Our extreme proximity's should be a major influential force to persuade us to help Mexico fight the drug cartels. If Mexico falls into the hands of criminals and drug lords, the violence will not stay within Mexican borders; it will spill into the US at rates we've never seen before. Since Mexico is our second largest trade partner and we don't want that trade to be dominated by the exchange of narcotics, we need to help the Mexican government purge its country of these drug cartels. By helping Mexico rid itself of these drug lords we are also taking a step to making our own streets a little safer.
I believe that the US needs to help Mexico, because the situation could continue without many consequences and have a large impact on the United States. Since Mexico is one of our leading trading countries, we need to preserve the connection the best we can. The US has had success in Columbia that was much worse than Mexico is now, so the US needs to find the funds to help stop the drug trade. If the US doesn't jump on the chance, then who knows how long it will take until it affects Texas and the bordering countries and eventually the entire United States. The US government already knows how to solve the problem, so they need to solve it.
i think we should give some financial help to Mexico and help solve the situation and if needed we should also send our military to protect the government. As Mexico is our neighboring country, and if we want our country to be safe our neighborhood should also be safe.
I believe that we should deal with the corrupt Mexican government first, before we send money to them because that obviously wouldn't be much help, considering the fact that many government officials benefit from the drug trade...
These statistics are horrifying. I believe in a war so close to home, we really ought to step up against these drug lords. They may not be as threatening to our national security as the transient terrorists in- where? oh yeah- Afghanistan, however we can see how cartel lords like Pablo Escobar nearly toppled Colombia. Therefore, they should be taken a lot more seriously.
In the interest of national security, I believe the government needs to curtail funding in Iraq, and pursue Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. However, if we continue to act as a crutch in Iraq, we will surely not have enough funding to pursue future escapades of national security, such as this debacle in Mexico. But I do think the drug war in Mexico should be one of the next threat the US, maybe with the help of the UN, should take a closer look at.
I think its important the government helps the situation in mexico somehow. The problem could easily slip across the border.
I think that the U.S. government should help Mexico in this isuue by helping finance the Mexico government's efforts to end this war. On the contrary, I don't think the U.S. should send military toops to Mexico to subdue the violence unless the war were to really get out of hand. I would suggest that the U.S. give more money if possible to Mexico to train drug-fighters. Having been to Mexico myself before, I have noticed that their police force isn't very strong in certain places I have visited. It seems to me that security is much more tighter on the American side of the border than it is on the Mexican side. If the U.S. were able to implement some slightly stricter security within Mexico without entirely interfering with its citizen's way of life then maybe we could help subdue the violence and drug trade of this war.
I think that we need to help aid the Mexican government because of the direct contact the U.S has with Mexico. If the crimes from Mexico are starting to move the U.S, why not help prevent it from growing? By sending milllions of dollars to other countries, the U.S is trying to protect itself. We need to send money to Mexico just like we send it to other counntries, especially because Mexico is our border country. The crime from Mexico can get to us faster then crime from other countries will.
The U.S. should go to Mexico and help out. Most of the drugs are coming to the U.S. so we need to try and stop drugs from coming in. The violence is to much for Mexico to handle, it's getting out of control and we need to do something about it.
I think that the US should send our military over to stop this problem. We have to do something about drug control on both sides of the border because we're the ones buying their products and fueling their drug business. We have to stop US consumption of drugs across the border so that they don't have a reason to want to trade drugs with us and then we need to go in and eliminate those kinds of businesses. We can't just send money over there becuase more than likely that money wont be used the way we intend it to be used. It's the US's problem too and the abductions only heighten the intensity and seriousness of the situation.
I think that we should send troops to help control the problem and keep it from spreading into american citys and towns. however i think that we should send no funding to aid the mexican goverment because it is very currupt and i highly doubt that any of the millions that would be sent would go into any sort of aid programs.
As a person that has family in Mexico, I'm really worried about this situation. It's every day that these cases are getting worse and worse. I think that the US, as a world leader, should help, especially when all these drug dealers are a potential threat to us. I might be mistaken, but I heard on the news that Mexico is the second most violent country in the world. If this is so, we need to act quickly before it continues to spread and eventually enter the US. I don't see why Iraq has more importance than Mexico when Mexico is an immediate threat.
Ezequiel Savedra 7
I think that we should help Mexico and send our finance and our military. So what if Mexico is maybe a city of kidnapping or drug deals. Everyone has a purpose for something. Help and we shall receive help.
How can the US help when it is so busy fighting random, disconnected "WARS ON TERROR, OH NO"?
Yes, the US should help. Like you said, not only is proximity something to consider, but our country is probably directly fueling this problem by purchasing drugs trafficked by these cartels.
Obviously we are too busy hunting oi - I mean, liberating people from their corrupt and undemocratic leaders to care about something as trivial as mass murder. This has already been evidenced by a number of situations, namely those in Africa.
We should help, but once again, are we going to? There's no way. At least, I don't think so. Maybe under the new administration things will change... I'm just a little cynical at this point.
I think the United States are put into a tough situation at this moment. Because the U.S. is currently heavily in debt and president Obama has already initiated a series of cuts of government spendings, the chances of major american help in Mexico is slim. But also because Mexico is in such proximity to U.S. soil, the American people can neither sit around and watch a neighboring country corrupt and fall. I think the U.S. should official help regulate some of these drug lords in Mexico only because of the future threat and influence they may possess to the average U.S. citizens. Giving Mexico money is a problem, and sending troops there is even a bigger headache. I think we should negotiate with the officials in Mexico to come up with a plan to benefit both sides.
I thought the U.S.Government could help them to fixed the control problem, but not always to be done the same things.I did like spend more time to done some unusual things
I think we should do whatever possible to help without sending troops in. After Iraq soldiers just need to come back home.
i think he US should help in controlling the drug trade in Mexico. We cannot just send money and let their government fix the problems in their country, but sending troops isn't always the best way to solve problems between counrties. However, we do need to find a way to stop the drug trade from Mexico to America before it gets worse than it is now.
I think that we should do what ever we can to solve this problem. Mexico is right next door so it could slip into the U.S. But then again Mexico should be able to aid their own proplems.
I think that if this war invovles kidnapping americans no dur we should interfere. i would not want any of those people to take me my sister because a relative was stupidly mixed up with this crap.so yes i do think our armes forces should help them.
now don't get me wrong, i love mexico. the country has so much cuture and citizens that keep their country close to heart but it is a very poor country, the government doesn't really help its citizens. many of the border towns are rundown, thats why so much drug traffic takes place there. america should most definitly help our bordering neighbor with their problems. but not by giving them troops and money, but by helping their government become more democratic and to be more like the u.s. america isn't the PERFECT country but our system seems to have worked pretty darn well the last 200 or so years.
I think it's nessecary that we help Mexico erradicate it's Mafia because of Mexico's close proximity to the U.S. - both geographicaly and economically. However, at the present we are sending too much money and too many troops to the Middle East to be able to make a difference in Mexico...
I do really think that the u.s government should help mexico. If they dont then it will cross our border. Eventually something will go wrong.
I think that we should send our troops but then i think we should not because we dont need more of our troops over there that could die.....
I think we should send money and soldiers even though we are in our own war right now. I think we need to help them as soon as we can.
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