La Frontera Sangrosa:
Carnage along the border continues
By John Barham July 18, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

The official numbers say that 1,500 people have died in Mexico so far this year from drug-related violence; however, keen observers along the border between Mexico and the US feel that figure should be adjusted considerably higher. Whatever the true numbers might be, do they actually mean anything to the millions of Americans whose cravings for illegal drugs fuel the bloody drug wars in Mexico? From all appearances, drug-obsessed Americans attach little significance to such gory statistics, and billions of dollars continue to be spent each year on illegal drugs by the ill-informed and self-indulgent. The lion’s share of the proceeds goes to Mexican drug cartels, which enjoy a 1,000% mark-up from source on their products.

The US government, in turn, spends more than US$15 billion annually in direct expenditures in endeavoring to shut down the drug pipeline. This figure does not include indirect costs, such as adjudication, incarceration and lost work time.

A recent US pledge of US$1.4 billion in aid to Mexico to fight the drug cartels has, owing to strings attached, drawn fire from President Felipe Calderon’s government, which resents any sort of American inference that the funds could be used in such a way as to represent threats to human rights in Mexico.

Once viewed as the “mules” for the Colombian cartels, Mexico’s drug bosses today are indisputably number one in the drug trade in the Western Hemisphere. And, with their dominance, violence along the border between Mexico and the US has escalated. The cartels, of course, are more determined than ever to hold on to their US$140 billion a year business in cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, marijuana and other illegal drugs. That determination, in effect, promotes a veritable war in Mexico, and this is especially true along the Mexican-US border.

Many south of the border are not too fond of the US these days. Why should Mexico, they ask, be responsible for fighting a battle that has come about by virtue of the American government’s inability to control its pagan society’s craving for drugs? And, is this just not another symptom linked to the decadent nature of American society? Why is it that the American government is not reluctant to interfere in the affairs of other nations, but is unwilling or unable to stem drug use at home, while at the same time dedicating itself to building a wall to stem the northward movement of needed labor?

All along the northern border of Mexico there are towns like Rio Bravo, where showdowns and shootouts are common and where local police forces have all but disappeared, owing to the likelihood of a relatively short lifespan for any law enforcement officer brave enough to resist the allure of drug money. In many instances, mayors and other local officials who have dared to stand up to the cartels have simply been gunned down, and the only growth industry in many small towns is the funeral business.

Border culture, long derided by Mexicans in the Bajío and in the Federal District as shallow and characterized by people called pochos who speak neither good Spanish nor good English, is today even more fragile, owing to the drug wars. In cantinas and cafes in small towns like Piedras Negras and Nogales, the most played tunes in jukeboxes are the narco-corridas, which capture the imagination of young people and romanticize the daring exploits of those whose specialty is the cross-border movement of drugs.

Journalists along the border, for the most part, are reluctant to publish stories on the drug trade, owing to the proclivity of the gangs to punish reporters who are so bold as to expose the prime movers of the industry. After a recent AK-47 and hand-grenade attack on the newspaper office in Nuevo Laredo, journalists by the score abandoned la frontera. Accordingly, it is interesting to note that, during 2007, Mexico had the dubious distinction of having the third most attacks on journalists in the world, occupying the third slot after Iraq and Iran.

In border cities, like Matamoros and Reynosa, foreigners quickly notice the sizeable presence of army and naval personnel who have been deployed to do battle with the cartels by President Calderon. On the other side of the border, the US Border Patrol reports increasing attacks on Border Patrol officers, who have come under automatic weapons fire from drug smugglers and, on several occasions, have had to dodge Molotov cocktails.

Earlier this year in Ciudad Juarez, the scene of hundreds of unexplained murders of young women, excavations conducted around a residence used as a safe-house by drug smugglers yielded the remains of 33 male corpses, presumably put to death during a turf-war conducted by rival drug gangs.

Beheadings, bombings, discoveries of bodies, the intimidation of legitimate authority and random shootings, it all sounds like Iraq. But it is happening on the border between Mexico and the United States. In fact, it is a full-scale war that rivals Iraq in terms of deaths and casualties.

If we are looking for responsible parties, we need look no further than the ill-considered policies of the US government, which have done virtually nothing to dry up the domestic consumption of illegal drugs. Obviously, using the old adage defining success, the Mexican cartels have found a need and have filled it. If the American drug czars charged with preventing the flow of drugs were half as innovative as Mexico’s drug bosses, the story might be much different.

Does the solution for America lie in legalization and control, or in a more hardnosed approach to enforcement and sentencing? What exists now is simply failed strategy that has unwisely attempted to apply old solutions to new challenges from forces that have shown themselves to be far more sophisticated than the bureaucrats in the self-perpetuating anti-drug establishment in the US. Clearly, until the need is no longer present, enterprising individuals and organizations will continue to satisfy the never-ending demand in the US, and the death toll along la frontera will continue to rise. Inflexible and time-worn policies are palpably inadequate. Isn’t it time for some innovation and originality on the northern side of the border?

John Barham, formerly a dean at the University of Texas at Brownsville, retired from the University of Missouri in 2006. He now divides his time between Brownsville and San Miguel and frequently lectures for Elderhostel International in San Miguel, Guanajuato and Querétaro.