On July 30, 2020, the body of the head of the criminal investigation bureau of the Mexican state of Michoacan was found in a local mass grave, seven months after he disappeared while traveling to the city of Morelia to investigate the case. The killing of the director is also the norm for Mexican society as a whole, and the city of Morelia, like most other Mexican cities, is rife with drugs, crime and violence.
Mexican army fighting drug crimes
In Mexico, drug prohibition can be said to be tied to the waistband of the pants, which is extremely risky. Since 2006, the Mexican government has waged a "war on drugs" against drug trafficking organizations, but by 2012 hundreds of soldiers and more than 4,000 police officers had been killed, and 17 mayors had been killed in 2010 alone. The end result was also unsatisfactory, but it triggered further chaos in Mexican society.
Why is drug control so difficult in Mexico?
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the beginning of the drug problem in Mexico</h1>
Mexico is located in a subtropical and tropical region, with mountainous terrain and abundant sunshine, and its climate is very suitable for the cultivation of many drug plants. As a result, since the Spaniards colonized Mexico, cannabis cultivation has taken root in Mexico.
Mexico's mountainous terrain is very suitable for growing drugs
In the mid-19th century, the poppy was also introduced to Mexico. By the beginning of the 20th century, drug cultivation in Mexico had reached a fairly high level and began to be smuggled into the United States. This is also largely due to the long-term political turmoil in Mexico, which has made it difficult to make effective anti-drug policies.
At that time, there were frequent military coups in Mexico, which seriously interfered with the normal development of society. The figure shows the distribution of the areas controlled by various factions during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920).
After the end of The Second World War, the Mexican government actively promoted the comprehensive industrialization of the national economy with "import substitution" as the mainstay, and vigorously developed light industry and heavy industry. By the 1960s, Mexico had gradually transformed itself from a single agrarian country into an emerging power with a modern industrial system, with an average annual gdp growth rate of 8%. As a result, Mexico's major achievements in the 1940s and 1960s have been hailed as the "Mexican Miracle".
Opening ceremony of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. However, in the same year, there were also massive mass demonstrations in Mexico, declaring the end of the "Mexican miracle" era
Although Mexico has achieved certain development results, there are also many shortcomings in the policies of the Mexican government. The Government's over-protective policies have made the industrial production sector inefficient and uncompetitive, while the excessive support for industrial development has led to an imbalance in industrial and agricultural development and the bankruptcy of a large number of farmers.
Demonstrations in Mexico in 1968
As time went on, the social problems brought about by the Mexican miracle became more and more apparent. Although industrialization has led to the development of cities and economies, it has not alleviated the imbalance of income distribution, resulting in a growing gap between the rich and the poor and unemployment rates. It is estimated that by the mid-1970s, the real unemployment rate in Mexico had reached 70 per cent, and the slum area was expanding.
▲ The capital of Mexico, a poor and rich area separated by a wall
At that time, there were more or less economic and social problems in latin American countries, and government corruption and rampant criminal and evil forces became common to Latin American countries at that time. In drug-producing areas, the average farmer earns only three dollars a day, while growing coca leaves can make a profit of more than twenty dollars a day. However, these drugs are not produced by the locals themselves, but are smuggled into the United States in exchange for huge profits. Because in the 1960s and 1970s, the United States had arguably the largest drug market in the world.
Since the 1960s, the United States has successfully entered a post-industrial society, and the national economy has developed rapidly, but many Americans in this environment have difficulty adapting to mechanized work. In order to make his spirit happy, a counterculture of pursuing individual liberation has gradually emerged in American society, and many music, literature, and film and television have emerged that encourage drugs. More and more young Americans are embracing "hedonism" and actively pursuing new pop culture, and the use of drugs is increasing.
▲ The poverty rate of the Mexican states, the darker the color, the poorer
When Mexico experienced a recession, a large number of unemployed people and the poor became a destabilizing factor in society. When they became aware of the significant profits from drug trafficking, they quickly embarked on this road of no return. Soon, cocaine and cannabis production in Latin America quickly rose to more than 95 percent of the world's total, or about three-quarters of the U.S. drug market.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the breeding ground of evil</h1>
However, as drug cartels became more rampant, Colombia, one of the main drug producers at the time, also began to vigorously crack down on drug trafficking in the late 1970s. Soon, the smuggling route that had originally passed through the Gulf of Mexico to the United States was quickly cut off by the Joint Police of the United States and the Police of South America.
Drug trafficking tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border
As the only land neighbor in the south of the United States, Mexico has gradually become the preferred smuggling relay station and major production area for drug trafficking organizations. Numerous drug cartels, along the U.S.-Mexico border, have built countless smuggling tunnels underground. This allows for a steady stream of drugs to be transported from Latin America to the United States. By the 1970s, the vast majority of American consumption of opium and marijuana originated in Mexico.
After President Nixon of the United States took office, he resumed the previous policy of iron-fisted anti-drug control and actively cracked down on the problem of drug proliferation from the source. However, in the eyes of the successor Presidents Ford and Carter, Nixon's war on drugs not only cost a lot of manpower and financial resources, but also made it difficult to eradicate drug addiction, so drug control was slightly relaxed, focusing on cracking down on more addictive drugs. As a result, the Drug Problem in the United States was even more rampant during this period.
▲ U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the establishment of the "United States Drug Enforcement Administration" in 1973, pictured here are 21 local branches
It was not until Reagan became president that the drug problem in the United States was slightly curbed and the militarized crackdown on drug circulation was intensified. Overall, U.S. drug policy in the 1960s and 1990s oscillated between harshness and laxity.
Thanks to the connivance of the two presidents of the United States, Mexican drug dealers also grew during this period, not only the emergence of so-called "drug cartels" (that is, the larger drug cartels composed of multiple drug trafficking organizations), but also even extended their tentacles to the Mexican government. Drug trafficking organizations provide protection to local and federal officials and promise to suppress criminal violence against the Government, civilians and other underworld forces, while the Government acquiesces to some extent to the existence, production and trade of drug trafficking organizations.
Distribution of drug cartel organizations
The significant benefits of drug production and trafficking have also attracted a large number of Mexican people to join the drug production and drug trafficking industry. In 1998, about 300,000 farmers in Mexico were engaged in drug production, and 468,000 people were involved in the drug trade. In some areas, the drug industry has even become a pillar industry to promote local development. Moreover, due to the popularity of the drug economy, more and more Mexicans have begun to worship and respect drug lords, and even a number of songs praising drug lords have emerged.
A roadmap for drug trafficking by Mexican drug trafficking organizations in 2012
As a result of the drug epidemic, mexico's drug-using population is also on the rise. According to relevant data, from 1976 to 1982, the number of heroin users in Mexico increased sevenfold. By 2011, 1.2 percent of people in mexico had smoked marijuana. After decades of development, Mexico has become a drug nation.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, drug war</h1>
Unable to improve social livelihoods and address the drug epidemic for a long time, the Institutional Revolutionary Party government, which had been in power in Mexico for 71 consecutive years, came to an end in 2000. President Vicente Fox, from the Alliance for Change, a political coalition formed by the National Action Party and the Green Ecology Party, came to power.
At the beginning of his presidency, Fox bluntly said that "all the power of the state must be used to fight drug trafficking organizations." First, Fox reorganized the national security services that had been infiltrated by drug trafficking organizations, and established a new "Federal Bureau of Investigation" to recruit, train, and enforce the law of the anti-drug police, as well as to supervise the administrative and judicial departments at all levels. At the same time, the Mexican government has also increased its publicity work on anti-corruption and anti-drug drugs to the public, and actively cooperated with the United States.
▲ Map of the distribution of drug conflicts in Mexico, the darker the color, the more serious it is
It turns out that President Fox's anti-drug policy has indeed achieved some results. In 2000-2004 alone, the Mexican government captured more than 30,000 drug traffickers, including 15 drug lords and 64 military officers, while the amount of drugs seized on the U.S.-Mexico border increased by more than 50 percent.
Number of drug-related murders in Mexico (2006-2011)
In 2006, when Calderon, a member of the National Action Party, came to power, he shrugged off the constraints of the opposition party and further intensified his anti-drug efforts, kicking off the prelude to Mexico's drug war. During his administration, Mexico sent an average of 45,000 troops a year to counter narcotics, while massively expanding its police force, rapidly increasing the number of federal police officers to 40,000. By 2012, Mexican police had successfully arrested or killed 22 of the 37 drug lords on the wanted list and purged a large number of corrupt judicial bureaucrats.
However, the anti-drug policies of the two presidents have also touched the entire chain of interests, not only drug dealers, but also the interests of many corrupt bureaucrats. Some drug trafficking organizations continue to attack government departments and civilians to force government concessions; others have engaged in internal fires as a result of the arrest of drug lords. Soon, violent crimes in Mexican society were increasing.
Murder counts in Mexico's drug conflict (December 2006 – December 2010)
However, the failure of Fox and Calderon to fight drugs, as well as the serious social security problems that have emerged, have gradually caused the Mexican people to gradually lose confidence in them. Some people and politicians have even begun to call for the legalization of drugs. When the new president Peña came to power in 2012, he did not reverse the problem of social disorder. Although the failure of the Mexican government's anti-drug work is due to the complicity of drug trafficking organizations and corrupt bureaucrats and some members of society, the Mexican government has not solved the important root causes of the drug epidemic from the source.
Although Mexico's economy has generally improved since the 21st century, its vast rural areas remain very poor. In 2016, mexico's 10 percent of the wealthiest held 64 percent of wealth, while the poverty rate was as high as 43.6 percent. Moreover, among the 12-19-year-old population, unemployment and dropout rates are as high as 20 per cent, and a large number of young people who have no hope of hope have to join drug trafficking organizations to earn a living, becoming the growing human base of the latter.
After the new President Obrador came to power in 2018, the anti-drug situation in Mexico is still very serious, and the idea of legalizing drugs has been rampant. For the ruling party, its anti-drug policy is also hampered by the opposition, and the efficiency of the judiciary is extremely inefficient, and it is simply unable to deal with the endless drug crime cases at the top of society.
Mexican soldiers were on duty at checkpoints during the drug war, and the Mk19 automatic grenade launcher was loaded on the car
Counter-narcotics on the Mexican side alone is simply not enough. The United States tasted the bitter fruit of the drug epidemic very early, and at that time, Mexico, as the top of the supply chain, had not yet formed a serious social problem, and as a "porter", it could even get a lot of benefits from it. So in the early days, it was more of a wishful thinking on the part of the United States to ask Mexico to cooperate with its anti-drug efforts.
Chic Camarena, an agent of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. During the period of drug control, he was kidnapped and murdered by drug trafficking organizations for harming the interests of drug trafficking organizations. Afterwards, in order to swear an oath of determination to fight drugs, the US government retaliated against many suspects
With the changes in Mexico's domestic political situation and the increasingly serious drug problem, since the new century, the Mexican government has also become aware of the problem of drugs and corruption and has begun to actively seek cooperation with the United States. The two sides once formed a relatively tacit cooperative relationship, such as cooperation between the two sides to arrest the big drug lord Gu Jinman and let the United States extradite him back to China for trial.
However, Mexico's policy of legalizing drugs and abandoning the military's drug control also affected the efficiency of the United States government's drug control. For the United States, eliminating the drug problem from the country is the best policy. For now, it is still difficult for Mexico to reduce drug violence in the short term. Counter-narcotics in Mexico is a long-term undertaking and is not a problem that can be solved by a single government.
Longtime author | Texas Red Wolves
Literary and historical writer | the research direction of modern world politics and history
Responsible editor| Thomas
Graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science| Editor-in-Chief of the Global Intelligence Officer
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