Another
day, another gangster: Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, aka,
'El
Chango' or 'The Monkey,' is displayed by Mexican federal police,
June
22. Vargas is alleged to be leader of the 'La Familia' drug cartel.
El Universal, Mexico
U.S. Help with Mexican Drug War 'Insufficient'
"Any
attempt to destroy the drug cartels will be useless as long as so many dollars
and weapons continue to flow freely across the northern frontier. … It’s a simple case of cause and effect, yet the
U.S. has been unable to assimilate health and security policy into a single powerful
whole."
Abraham Barrios Caporal, aka/'Erasmo,' is presented to the media in Mexico City, June 30. Caporal is a suspected hitman of the Zeta Cartel, and is implicated in the murders of 72 migrants, and of killing people whose bodies were buried in mass graves.
The weapons that kill
thousands of people in Mexico every year come, in the great majority of cases, from
the United States.
The dollars needed to buy
these weapons come mainly from the millions of American drug users. Therefore, any
attempt to destroy the drug cartels will be useless as long as so many dollars
and weapons continue to flow freely across the northern frontier.
It’s a simple case of cause
and effect, yet the U.S. has been unable to assimilate health and security policy
into a single powerful whole.
Fortunately for everyone, the
Obama government is showing signs that it understands the root of the problem. First,
it has acknowledged U.S. responsibility and has maintained police
and military cooperation with Mexico that began under the Bush Administration. Now,
the Obama government has established vital systems for monitoring and is taking
action to address the sale of arms and drug consumption.
According to the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, 30 percent of assault rifle sales in U.S.
gun shops are made to frequent buyers or front men. The profile fits the
traffickers who supply the cartels perfectly. Using this argument, the Obama government
decided that gun shops would have to delay the repeated sale of high-powered
rifles to the same individual for a period of five days. Furthermore, they have
been instructed to notify federal authorities when they notice repeat buyers of
such rifles.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The progress is insufficient,
but understandable due to the enormous influence of U.S. conservative groups that
promote the "right" - protected by the Second
Amendment - to possess arms.
The same is true in the case
of drug use. They have begun to do the right thing, although not with
sufficient force. The diagnosis is clear: in the last decade, four million
adolescents a year were added to the ranks of drug users. The U.S. government's
answer has been to invest more than ever in prevention and the rehabilitation
of addicts. The problem is that the plan is being carried out alongside a
contradiction: while the United States and Mexico are struggling to reduce the entry
of all types of drugs, 15 states in the American Union have legalized marijuana.
In both areas, drugs and arms,
the U.S. is progressing with a sluggishness that contrasts sharply with the rate
of deterioration in border cities. Mexico needs more support.
We need, as a bloc, because
drug trafficking is transnational, for all of us to define once and for all
where to combine our efforts. As long as the entire chain isn't being attacked -
drugs, money and arms - the situation for both of us will continue to worsen.
