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. 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