Conflict Analysis : Mexico And Central America

In the last decades, narco trafficking and organized crime had emerged as the main security threats in Latin America. Deviant globalization increase their power by establishing connections with similar organizations in other parts of the world, like cocaine distribution networks, for example. This perceived danger increases the pressure on the governments for effective solutions, and some of them consider that these problems had overwhelmed the capabilities of the local police. Consequently, the intervention of military forces would be necessary to secure the stability of the countries. However, the use of force as the only solution is the outcome of a misunderstanding of the root causes that generates them. This paper presents the research for a general pattern in the region that is helpful to understand how the civil society perceives the failures of governance and how the networks of illegal activities exploit this perception.

Mexico’s violence on drugs is constantly ongoing. Its imposes a security threat to the United States and threatens the stability of the Mexican state. Drug trafficking is not the only issue of mutual interest between the United States and Mexico but Mexico is the third most largest and important source of oil which has been dropping since 2005 (New York Times, Hanson, 2008). Violence is a major problem when it comes to its drug cartels. They have tried to double their police force to make sure military forces from involving themselves in the drug movement. Consumers have become very upset at the quality of the drugs they are receiving so that increases the violence. Due to the drug violence increasing so much that kids cannot play in their neighborhood due to fear and intimidation. It’s not a safe environment for their citizens

The expansive empires of the Aztecs and Incas, came crashing down, upon the arrival of Spaniards in the New World. The birth of colonial nations came about in the same stride that death came to indigenous populations. Modern Latin America has conflict built into its system because that is what it has mostly seen for the past five hundred years. In Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, John Charles Chasteen supports the argument that Latin America's problems developed due to its violent origins and history of conquest. From the conquest, through colonialism and revolutions, to modern day, violence has always been a main player in the advancement of Latin America. Chasteen has left me with a greater comprehension of our

Shirk, David. The Drug War in Mexico : Confronting a Shared Threat. New York City, 2011. E-Book.

There were thousands of pounds of gold aboard the huge ship, transporting it all to New York. Everyone on board had come from the gold rush in California, migrating to the Big Apple to start fresh with newfound wealth. There was a large crowd of people waiting to enter the boat, each shoulder to shoulder ready to board.

In 2006, Mexico began to crack down on drug trafficking operations in union with the United States. Why all of the sudden? In regard to that question, my paper will include a history of events leading up to this sudden crack down on drug trafficking, from its start in the 1960’s until today. After the history of the drug war, I will discuss the main states involved like the United States and Mexico itself. Along with their main goal of eliminating drug trafficking all together, although it is a very high expectation. Mexico has sent out 50,000 soldiers that are being paid less than a burrito vendor, in attempt to lessen the

The U.S. has been involved in the war on drugs across the U.S. – Mexican border for almost a decade. While the United States has continued to be an active helper in assisting the Mexican government, the level of violence and gang-related deaths are still increasing at an alarming rate. So far, the majority of U.S. involvement has been in the way of money and physical enforcement; both Mexico and our border with them have become heavily militarized in the years since the “war on drugs” was launched. However, this military action doesn’t seem to be having any effect accept to spark intensified revolts and counter-violence by the Mexican cartels. The Mexican security crisis is no longer contained within their borders, and it is beginning to affect U.S politics, citizen safety, and economy. Based on my theoretical analysis, I recommend that:

Critics outside and inside of Mexico who are witness to the casualties of the Mexican War on Drugs are keen to blame Felipe Calderon’s administration (the Mexican government) for the escalation of conflict within the country starting in 2006; arguing that the fast militarization and the lack of the state’s strength augmented such conflict. In the article “Did the Military Interventions in the Mexican Drug War Increased Violence?” by Valeria Espinosa and Donald B Rubin; the statistics analysts, studied two articles from a leading Mexican magazine Nexos, both with the same conclusion, “that military interventions had increased homicide rates in those states where intervention took place” (Espinosa and Rubin, 17). The results, although it was

Recently, Mexico has been facing a horrendous civil war. This internal conflict is coming from the country’s powerful drug leaders. This epic drug war was been taking place ever since these “cartels” relocated from the South American nation of Columbia to Mexico in the mid 1980s. since then , this bloody conflict has arose several issues in Mexico. Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderon, just recently launched an all out military campaign against these drug lords in 2007. This campaign included increased military personnel stationed in locations of intense combat. These increased troops eventually ammounted to more than 25,000 troops stationed throughout

Instead of addressing the structural causes of violence as inequality, discrimination or corruption of institutions, law enforcement, military and police, have themselves become perpetrators of this structural violence restricting freedoms inherent to democracy. And, this strategy has not had significant results in combating organized crime and, on the contrary, itself has generated an increase in human rights violations committed by the police and military and contributed to the breakdown of the social fabric with high costs in bodies and lives of women who see their rights being restricted while increasing femicide, femicide and other serious violence especially against women. The drug war in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala has become a war against women. In many regions, it has led to a crisis of insecurity where no one is safe. Homicide rates in the region recorded the highest in the world; Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Guerrero in Mexico and San Pedro Sula, Honduras today are places with more murders per capita in the world and rates of femicide and femicide have increased throughout the

It can be hard to differentiate between conflict and issue in regards to Latin America’s drug war and International Relations. The Mexican drug war is a global issue because it interferes with the states ability to collaborate and form policy in order to address the issues between international borders.

Sanchez, Magaly. (2006). Insecurity and Violence as a New Power Relation in Latin America. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 606, 178-195.

For example, as the report, Organized Crime in Central America: The Impact of US Policy, illustrates, Central America’s descent into a location of drug trafficking, violence, and corruption is more than just a matter of the drug trade being relocated from one area into another. Rather, the drug trade brings with it a variety of other social, economic, and political problems,

“Violence has been a prominent social response to the application of structural adjustment policies throughout Latin America. There are societies in which, things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Violence is a shared disease that seems to arise in all societies where there are profound social differences and exploitation…Many Latin American societies are condemned to bloodletting by the precedents of violence and gross injustice that characterize their culture and their history.”

Less than eight percent of the global population resides in Latin America and the Caribbean, yet approximately thirty three percent of the world’s homicides occur in this region (Watts). More than 60,000 people have been killed by Drug Trafficking Organizations alone over the past 10 years, and more than 26,000 have gone missing (Morris). Jordan recognizes that a significant portion of the homicides in Latin America stem from the actions of rebel groups and, as a firm supporter of peace, urges the international community to address the issue through Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR). To do so, the global community must shape the effectiveness and improvement of DDR, as well as specific types of rebel groups such as gangs and drug cartels. Jordan believes that by addressing these issues, the international community can assist Latin America in the restriction of the influence and proliferation of rebel groups.