Lindsay Kline
War is not what it used to be. Sending troops abroad to fight a righteous war and come home as heroes is no longer a reality in todays interconnected and complex global community. Furthermore, countries are having a more difficult time justifying their involvement in the affairs of another country. A clear example of this ambiguity and confusion is Mexico’s drug war, an intra-state conflict that is getting attention from the international community; however, action has yet to be taken.
Perhaps it is beneficial to start at the beginning in order to understand the full magnitude of this conflict, as well as to grasp the revolutionary meaning the drug wars have for the face of 21st century conflicts, a task political theorists have been grappling with for some time.
On December 11, 2006, Mexican president Filipe Calderon declared a “war against drugs” and sent an initial 6, 500 troops to the Michoacán region where the heart of the problem exists. This region is considered one of the main producers of marijuana in the world, and also, remains one of the main contributors to the trading and facilitating of methamphetamine and heroin from other South American countries like Colombia. This region has remained the heart of the drug trade and is arguably a prime location to begin taking action against the production of drugs in Mexico. Since 2006, not only has violence enormously increased but also have the amount of drugs and drug-related deaths. Meanwhile, the number of troops present in the fight against narco-trafficking has increased to 45,000.
Presently, there have been a reported 15,000 drug-related casualties in Mexico, mainly murders occurring along the United States and Mexico border in towns such as Tijuana and Cuidad Juarez. These cities harbour high degrees of violence as drugs must pass through American borders to reach consumer demands within the US and Canada. Thus, a recent CBC documentary, described Cuidad Juarez as “Hell on Earth” due to its status as “the most murderous city on Earth.”
Intrinsic to Mexico’s fight against drugs are drug lords who maintain more money and control than many political leaders worldwide. For example, Forbes magazine has recently named Joaquin Chapo Guzman the 41st most powerful and rich person in the world. Nicknamed “El Chapo”, he is the primary drug lord in Mexico, controlling the largest Sinaloa Cartel that directs the flow of drugs through Cuidad Juarez. El Chapo has been characterized as a “professional criminal” whose finesse within the drug industry and sophistication in remaining a criminal has made him capable of “convincing God to sit down with the Devil” . Consequently, the United States has implemented a 5 million dollar bounty for finding Guzman as well as placing him among America’s most wanted criminals due to his involvement with the drug trade as well as his responsibility for ordering the thousands of deaths that have occurred since 2006.
In all, the drug wars have reached a threshold in recent months. The problem has received more international attention yet; such attention is not focused on aiding the situation. Mexican people are losing hope and resorting to drastic measures such as claiming refugee status or worse, standing up to their enemy, only to be found dead the next day. At this point, I beg the question, where is the United States or Canada in alleviating the issue? Furthermore, where is the United Nations?
Questions surrounding international involvement in Mexico’s drug wars have been considered but by no means acted upon. Perhaps this inaction is the result of other distractions in the world, from protests in the Middle East to UN aid relief in Somalia and the Congo. Even so, it is important to realize that, in the words of Romeo Dallaire, “inaction has become a means of taking action”, meaning the international community has entered the vicious circle of going only so far as to talk about the issue rather than take action. While Mexico’s drug wars will continue to rage on, nearby countries like the United States and Canada will only feel sorry for the situation.
Is this a bad thing? Perhaps it is only reasonable and for countries dealing with internal conflicts to deal with it themselves. Issues of national security are essentially only issues that concern the affected country, right? I find it difficult to grasp, however, this concept while thousands of people are being left dead in the streets of Mexico’s border towns and the United States is still scratching it’s head of how to prevent the influx of refugees and drugs. Canada has taken action in a self-interested manner by issuing a travel advisory that states, “Canadians travelling to Mexico should exercise a high degree of caution due to a deteriorating security situation in many parts of the country,” and that non-essential travel to the Mexico and USA border be avoided at all costs . Lastly, the United Nations has not taken action with this issue or provided information of whether or not it will.
The drug wars in Mexico represent a tough question for their national security, as well as for international security. The Mexican government has taken proper provisions in addressing the problem, but has in turn been retaliated against. Shedding light on the intra-state identity of this problem, the international community will continue to find reasons not to get involved until the situation presents itself at their backdoor. For this reason, a continued monitoring of the situation will be necessary, and as we hope that these past and coming months remain the only threshold of the war. Also, that the government and people of Mexico will continue to be strong and brave in their fight against the ever-powerful drug cartels.
As for the rest of us, I suggest the next time you decide to take a toke of that joint, visualize the violence and loss of life, the suffering and grieving families, as well as the immoral psychology of people like El Chapo. Hopefully this image will make you reconsider.
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