U.S. Authorities Cracking Down on Mexican Drug Dealers

April National Scene Magazine National article

America Fighting Drug War: U.S. Authorities Cracking Down on Mexican Drug Dealers


http://www.nationalscenemagazine.com/html/national.html


Written by: Karen Benardello


In an effort to help Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa combat drug cartels, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United States’ top military officer, visited Mexico to confer with leaders there to discuss the Merida Initiative. The three-year plan, which was signed last June, is aiming to send $1.4 billion USD to the U.S.-Mexican border for law-enforcement training, equipment and technical advice to strengthen Mexico’s judicial system.

The money and assistance is expected to help President Hinojosa stop drug lords from killing any more people, as more than 6,300 people have already died at their hands since January 2008. While the cartels don’t usually target civilians, hundreds have already died in the crossfire, and the U.S. doesn’t want to see anymore innocent people killed for drugs.

Not only does U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration want to stop the violence on both the U.S. and Mexican borders, especially in the border states of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico, the initiative is also expected to stop the Mexican drug cartels that control about 90 percent of the cocaine trade in America. The U.S. Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center says these drug cartels also control most of the marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin markets in America, with operations in 230 cities.

In the agency’s 2009 National Drug Threat Assessment, it states that Mexican drug-trafficking organizations, known as DTOs, control drug distribution in most U.S. cities, and are gaining strength in markets that they do not yet control, from inner cities to suburban and rural areas. It also concludes that Mexican DTOs represent the greatest organized crime threat to the U.S.

The cartels’ threats became more imminent in late February when the results of Operation Xcellerator, a nationwide sweep by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration, were released by the Justice Department. More than 750 people were arrested, and 12,000 kilograms of cocaine, 1,200 pounds of methamphetamine, 1.3 million ecstasy pills and more than 160 weapons, nearly all attributed to Mexican-connected operations, were seized.

The Department of Homeland Security all these drugs came from small blocs around Mexico that are loyal to the cartels. One block is loyal to the Gulf cartel; another answers to the Sinaloa cartel, and another does business with the Tijuana cartel. While all of their violence worries U.S. authorities, they are most focused on the rivalry between the Gulf cartel leaders, known as Los Zetas, and the Los Negros, the Sinaloa cartel.

Many of their fights occur between Ciudad Juarez, near the point where Texas and New Mexico meet, and Nuevo Laredo, which is across the border from Laredo, Texas. U.S. authorities are worried that this is the heaviest launching pad for contraband entering the U.S., and almost everything is approved by either the Gulf or Sinaloa cartels. Authorities are having the most trouble cracking down on this area, as much of it is desert and rugged mountain terrain.

While the wars aboard are what many Americans are concerned about, President Obama should also aim to fight the drug war here at home. While the U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan need protection from terrorists, both American and Mexicans, particularly innocent and naïve teens, need protection from drugs.