10 Reasons To Fear Mexico's Drug War

It all started in the 80s.

Mexican Federal Police Agent Miguel Gallardo a.k.a. "The Godfather" controlled the entire drug trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Gallardo's massive power grew under the protection of the CIA, whose puppet, Miguel Haro, was head of the Mexican Federal Security Directorate. In the late 80s, Gallardo decided to split his control amongst several more manageable groups, now known as the Mexican drug cartels. Perhaps this decision didn't sit well with the brass, as Gallardo was arrested soon after dividing his empire and is doing 40 years in prison. With no central control, the cartels have been at war ever since. And now the war is coming to America…

Gallery by Hal Stanton.

The Sinaloas are considered by the U.S. intelligence community to be the "most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world." They operate in nearly every Mexican state and Zambada Niebla, a former Sinaloa member, said the cartel was given permission by the DEA to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. for years. The Sinola and DEA exchange information on cartels rival to the Sinola. By helping the DEA make arrests, the Sinaloa looks like the "good" cartel... while having its rivals eliminated for them the old fashioned way.

The war reaps billions of dollars for the players in the drug trade, much like the Iraq War jacked up oil prices, reaping record profits for oil companies. But what happens when drug dealers, notoriously touchy about things like "going to prison" or "having their money ripped off" come up against American citizens who rat them out or rob them? Well, according to police departments in Arizona and other states, it means the dealers send hit squads to U.S. soil to deal with it.

Former Canadian diplomat Pete Dale Scott has written extensively about the CIA's involvement in the drug trade, especially in Mexico and Latin America. Scott — and many other researchers — accuse the CIA of funding cartels and supplying guns as a means of establishing proxy control of the Mexican government...

In 2011, the New York Post reported a theory that the CIA "feared [that the cartel] los Zetas… was becoming too powerful" so it sent 2,000 guns and $1.25 million to the Sinaloa cartel "to keep the Zetas in check." If these allegations are true, the CIA looks to be benefitting from the perpetual drug war by 1) giving itself a job and 2) funding its covert operations through drug money earned from its partner cartels.

Under President Calderón, the power of the drug cartels has shifted dramatically to the Sinaloa Cartel, which has been accused (by, among others, John Gibler, a journalist based in Mexico) of having protection from and making deals with the Mexican government. Is it possible that Calderón has decided to foster a partnership with a major drug power, while allowing the war to escalate, so he can draw American military support and thus have more hard power in his borders? It could create a state of martial law, which in effect anoints him a dictator.

Every bullet blasted from every gun has to be purchased, distributed, and manufactured at some point of origin. Those origins are weapon manufacturers — private companies who function to generate profit and answer to their shareholders like any other corporation. As long as the cartels are at war, they'll need weapons. Both cartel members and reliable customers such as the CIA, funded with guaranteed tax payer money, supply weapons to the combatants. It is no wonder, then, that the weapons manufacturers hold great interest in perpetual cartel violence...

In late 2011, media outlets began reporting that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms operation "Fast and Furious" allowed known weapons suppliers to Mexican cartels to purchase 2,000 guns in U.S. stores and smuggle them back home. Common consensus has it that the ATF wanted to be able to track the guns and determine what they were being used for, but that it all went wrong when the weapons were used on a U.S. citizen.

In September 2011, 35 alleged drug cartels members were tortured, murdered and, their bodies partially nude, dumped in a Mexican tourist zone. A group calling themselves the Zeta Killers claimed responsibility, saying they were actually cleansing Mexico of violent drug dealers. But many experts believe the group to be a highly trained paramilitary group up for sale to the highest bidder.

Online chatter and writers/researchers indicate their alleged employer is the Sinaloa cartel, while similar mercenary groups were famously funded by the CIA during Columbia's worst years of drug violence.

One bank, Wachovia (now part of Wells Fargo), was discovered to have allowed billions of dollars of dirty money to be laundered for the Sinaloa cartel. (The amount is staggering: $378,000,000,000… which is about a third of Mexico's GDP; the bank paid out $160 million to the Feds to settle the issue without having to admit fault.) During the height of the financial crisis, the laundered drug money was, according to the Guardian, "the only liquid investment capital available to banks on the brink of collapse." Can you really blame the bankers for trying to make a profit off violence and suffering?

This one is simple: no drug war, no jobs. It's no wonder that a myriad of accusations surrounding the Drug Enforcement Administration's corrupt partnerships and deals with cartels have emerged over the years. Is there any truth to these allegations? The truth, unfortunately, lies behind closed doors.

As the war's violence escalates, so has the status and sophistication of the Mexican military. This is largely due to the influx of aid from the U.S. military in the form of both personnel training and state-of-the-art weapons technology. Using their urban warfare experience in the Middle East, U.S. troops now train Mexican soldiers in non-traditional warfare and sell its leaders drones and infamous Blackhawk helicopters.

With the Iraq war officially "won" and the Afghan deployment winding down as well, one may think that it is time for the Pentagon war machine to slow down. But so long as there is a reason to fight, the Defense Department's budget is guaranteed funding, which may be why the U.S. military benefits from the ongoing Mexican Drug War. Rumor has it that foot soldiers with relevant experience may be redeployed south of the border rather than bloat the already over-large rolls of the Department of Veterans Affairs.