Cartel violence in drug ridden countries of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil
Something that has always stood out to me has been President Trump’s hatred and discrimination towards the Hispanic and Latino community over the pretenses that everyone that immigrates to the United States is a criminal and has no reason for coming to this country. Well, its clear to see that these two racially charged statements are both wrong. Firstly, not everyone that enters this country is a criminal or guilty of having committed heinous crimes, but more importantly, the people who immigrate over to the United States, do not migrate without reason. Today, many people live ill-informed about the life outside of out country borders. Countries, like Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, live today caught in the middle of a war. Where one side is the corrupt and unbothered government and the opposing is the drug cartels pushing the drugs around the world. These innocent people are caught between negligence and sinister rule pushed by the demand of drugs and the need for violent control. These problems stem out from the roots of poverty, and like the driving force behind the drug war, it is never ceasing.
The primary driving force behind the drug war is the demand of drugs. Every line of coke and every gram of marijuana rolled, began in the same place. A world of poverty, where the production of narcotics has become the only logical source of income in countries that have been severely neglected by their government. They have turned to the manufacturing of drugs to be able to afford their daily bread. “Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar made so much money, he spent over $2,500 every month just on rubber bands to bundle up his cash.” During the 20th century Escobar was one of the richest men because of drug related activities. Drug trafficking has always been an issue in Colombia, but in the 20th century it started to impact the country by increasing violence and recreational narcotic drug use. During the 20th century Colombia had a rise in drug activity. It started off with trafficking of smaller items, but as they progressed they moved on to narcotic drugs. Colombia has always been known for their drug trafficking business and the issues that have come with it. In the article “Colombia Fights in Drugs” states “Smuggling has been a style of life in Colombia for centuries and has generally been tolerated as long as it was confined to cigarettes, electrical appliances and emeralds. But now smugglers have turned to narcotics, and the country is alarmed,” as more narcotic drugs started to be smuggled into different countries it started to be a larger issue and impact Colombia’s won community as well as other countries in a negative way. Most of the different countries that were receiving the drugs from Colombia started to have people experience more health issues because of the drugs that were being used. Drug trafficking comes with violence, which is one of the negative impacts that came along with drug trafficking. Colombia has a high rate of violence, which is explained by the drug activity in the country.
According to “Drugs, Violence, and State-Sponsored Protection Rackets in Mexico and Colombia”, it states “illegality and violence are directly connected: the less legal an activity, the more likely it is to be associated with violence, whereas the more legal the activity, the lower the likelihood of violence.” As illicit drug use and trafficking is illegal it has a high chance of causing violence within the community. The problem in Brazil is mirroring the crack epidemic that took over the United States in the when the drug essentially fueled the violence that was occurring within the cities. The Brazilians wanted to treat the drug problem as a national health problem, as they eventually created billion-dollar drug prevention programs to help the problem. In the past decade alone, Brazil has made changes to affect the means of production and operation for these crime groups. These changes came primarily because Brazil is one of the leading drug consumers in Latin America. As global drug markets are becoming more sophisticated the government must do what they can to lower the amount passing through the country. Being surrounded by Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, Brazil solidified itself for being a prime transport country for the smuggling of illegal narcotics. More than half of the cocaine seized in Brazil comes from Bolivia, then Peru and then Colombia the least. The use of crack has doubled since the early 2000’s with the increases in affluence, and the country’s urban youth to be the cause of the exponential drug use. The expansion of crack came unexpectedly because of its lower profitability and negative effect on consumer’s lives. One of these challenges is without doubt the problem of violence and insecurity within the poorer areas. Kooning states, “This phenomenon has become so deeply engrained in Brazilian society that many consider it intractable and have accepted it as part of everyday life.”
The mexican drug war didn’t officially start till 2006, when Mexico’s newly elected president Felipe Calderon sent federal troop to Michoacán to try to end the Drug Violence. Since then, violence has become a severe issue in the lives of the day to day people. Over 80,000 people have died since the start of the war. Cartels have become more violent and threatening throughout the country as they become known for their brutal manner and violent ways. They have been known for their engagement of kidnapping, murder, robbery and extortion of migrants travelling from central and South America. Yet the mexican cartels would not be where they are if it weren’t for corruption of the government. They usually intimidate law enforcement officials into corruption or sometimes state and federal government officials, along with the police, work with them in an organized network of corruption. With the Mexican government controlling the media outlets, repressing the working class, and being deprived of the necessary funds for an actual improvement of state corruption change is not likely in the near future.
So, when I think about President Trump’s wild and racist remarks, these countries come to mind. Yet I do not think about the cartel members that are locked in war with both their governments and rivals, but rather I think about the innocent people caught in the midst of the battle. Those innocently involved are the ones that are penalized for the crimes of others. They are locked in their homes, terrorized with no one to help. This is a reality for them and their search of a better life should not be shunned from them. Rather it is them that we should welcome with open arms, another survivor fighting for a better future. Will the war on drugs ever end? Well, truthfully, not for a long time. I’ve come to see that the demand for drugs will never end, and those held in poverty will be kept in poverty, creating the perfect environment for the thrive of drug trafficking and a bloody war.
Work Cited
Carpenter, Ted. “Undermining Mexico’s Dangerous Drug Cartels.” Cato Institute. N.p.. Web. <http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/undermining-mexicos-dangerous-drug-cartels>.
Smith, Phillip. “Mexican Drug War.” StopTheDrugWar.org. N.p.. Web. <http://stopthedrugwar.org/topics/drug_war_issues/source_countries/mexican_drug_war>.
Lessing, Benjamin. “The Logic of Violence in the Mexican Drug War.” Mitacs, www.mitacs.ca/en/projects/logic-violence-mexican-drug-war.
Felbab-Brown, Vanda. “Bringing the State to the Slum: Confronting Organized Crime and Urban Violence in Latin America.” Brookings, Brookings, www.brookings.edu/research/bringing-the-state-to-the-slum-confronting-organized-crime-and-urban-violence-in-latin-america/.Lessing, and Benjamin.
“The Logic of Violence in Criminal War: Cartel-State Conflict in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.” EScholarship, University of California, escholarship.org/uc/item/03m9r44h#page=124.
Benjamin, Kooning. “Logics of Violence in Criminal War – Kooning Benjamin, 2015.” SAGE Journals, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022002715587100.Violent Corruption and Violent Lobbying: The Logic(s) of … assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a09ddbed915d622c001c09/60730_Lessing_Violent_corruption.pdf.
