Mexican Drug Cartels : Why Are They So Horrible?

The Mexican cartels have impacted the society by violating many rights that human have and that are protected. The Cartels are causing too much trouble to the world especially in Mexico and its neighboring countries. They have trafficking tons and tons of drugs to world and spread its violence to nation that live in peace. The cartels have been operating for while and keep growing becoming more powerful each day and nothing has stopped them yet. The Mexican cartels have constructed their empires through the violation of human rights in the business of drug trafficking, especially through torture and deaths, resulting in worldwide corruption.

Mexican drug cartels have been expanding its portfolios to include doing business in sex trafficking. The Zetas are the most feared drug cartel in Mexico’s drug, sex trafficking trade, and etc.; the Zetas are a criminal army made up of defectors from the Mexican military. Anybody who crosses them will more than likely get their heads chopped off or won’t live to see another day.

Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that

The United States is the world’s number one consumer of narcotics and thus 90% of cocaine seized in the U.S. comes from Mexico due to the close geographical boundaries it is easy to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. from Mexico. The U.S.’s demand for narcotics and other drugs creates an 18-39 billion dollar market each year, all coming solely from drug sales. Drug violence is a direct result of protecting each business 's product. Cartels like the Zetas use violence to create a “brand” for their franchise. The violent cartels create a sense of fear so no one gets in their way and so others will comply with their wishes and demands.

At first, Mexican drug cartels were structured just like family owned businesses. There would be a family member who was the main drug lord and cousins and uncles of the family would be the body guards and drug dealers. After the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost their power within the Mexican government the structure of drug cartels became much more complex. A hierarchical diffusion is seen within the drug cartel system because the drugs spread from one important drug lord to another, and we generally see this happening in the urban part of Mexico, more than in the rural areas. A corporate structure began forming as hierarchies began developing under drug lords and more people got involved. Professor Guillermo Trejo of Notre Dame 's Kellogg Institute claims that once the PRI lost their power there was a rapid increase in violence. This is because of Mexico’s former President, Felipe Calderón, who politically associates with the National Action Party (PAN). In 2006 President Calderón declared war on the drug cartels. This milestone triggered a huge change within Mexico’s international relations, government, and culture.

The Gulf Cartel has a intricate reach into the United States through: supply lines, smuggling routes, and communication lines all maintained by lower level leadership in the cartel to ensure products reach their destination and that the money is returned to Mexico. In recent years, The Gulf Cartel has been plagued with several issues including; many high level arrests and the split between the Gulf Cartel and their protection wing, the Zetas. They have been losing leadership and fighting a territorial war with the Zetas, who are heavily invested in the same areas as the Gulf Cartel. The Zeta group exemplifies diversity. They use different ways to gain revenue. When they defected from the Gulf Cartel they were initially

According to the U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center, drug cartels can be define as “…large, highly sophisticated organizations composed of multiple [Drug Trafficking Organizations] DTOs and cells with specific assignments such as drug transportation, security/enforcement, or money laundering” (2010). Also, it is mention within this national drug threat assessment that was done by the U.S. Department of Justice, that the “greatest drug trafficking threat” to the United States is “Mexico” (2010). With this been said one can understand that the roots majority of the criminal groups that operate domestically within the U.S. can be traced back to Mexico. So, in order to understand how this criminal organizations form

The police officers and border patrols become corrupt as a result of the cartel buying or threatening them. Many of them have also been murdered by the cartel for doing their job. Numerous amounts of officers have died in drug bust attempts trying to stop infamous drug lords such as Pablo Escobar. Even when they do capture and arrest them, they attempt to escape out of jail and succeed in doing so. Such as the famous drug lord “El Chapo” who

Most illegal drugs are produced outside and brought to the U.S. for a number of reasons:

They are mostly situated near the northern, west coast, east coast, and southern border regions. The Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel are two main examples of this. They have set up and taken over trafficking cocaine produced in Colombia and exporting it to the rest of the world. However, what makes Mexico unique from Colombia is that there is an ongoing constant struggle for power between rival cartels. Over time one weakens, and another topples it, effectively taking over the business and becoming the next major enemy of the state. Currently, there are about 7 major cartels that include; Los Zetas, La Familia, Juarez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, and the Knights Templar. This staggering number of Cartels all within close proximity of one another, creates an environment hostile to everyone that resides or finds themselves in these heavily contested areas. These include, but are not limited to innocent civilians, tourists, to politicians and even police officers. Certain cartels have different values, targeting specific people and willing to do certain things to express and convey a message in order to gain the attention that they crave.

The original mission of Los Zetas focused on protecting the leader of Gulf Cartel, Orsiel Cardenas Guillen, and on killing all of Gulf Cartel’s enemies that may have disrupted normal operations. In an effort to grow Gulf Cartel’s power, top Los Zetas members would carry out covert assassination missions in rival

The Mexican drug cartels have been a cancer that has grown through out Mexico. Influenced by Colombian cartels, such as the Pablo Escobar’s Medellin and the Cali Cartel. In 2008, over 5,600 people were killed in Mexico; many were torture/or beheaded (Hixson, 2009). It has stretched from the border town of Tijuana all the way to the beaches of Cancun. Many people have been robbed, tortured, kidnapped, injured, and murdered through out the domestic drug war that is going on in Mexico. Police officers have been known to take bribes from different drug traffickers, which has given more power to the drug cartels. Even some politicians have been accused of being backed by particular cartels. Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s current President has taken

The government has made some gains, but at a heavy price. A total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in Mexico in the first four years (Siddique). Most of these killing are between cartel rivals fighting for the control of territories. There are five cartels operating in Mexico: the Sinaloa, the Gulf, Juarez, Tijuana, the Zetas. The major cartels are the Gulf, Sinaloa and Juarez (Cook 21). Many of these cartels have joined together forming powerful alliances known as the “Federation” (Cook 17). The cartels work together, but they remain independent organizations.

Over the past years, Mexico has experienced extreme changes due to the violent drug wars. Violence has presented itself in every neighborhood, every street corner, and even in the schools. Chalk outlines are seen drawn on various streets of homicide scenes. Thousands of people have lost their lives in the hands of drug traffickers. Life itself in Mexico, has taken a change for the worse. One may ask what the reasons are for this wave of violence. The most logical answer, of course, is to blame the criminals. It is the drug lords who are smuggling, transporting, and selling these drugs. They should be the ones held responsible, right? The answer to this question is deeply rooted in the history of corruption in the Mexican Government. The

Drug cartels have grown and expanded throughout the interior and exterior of states for many years. The way drugs started to be introduced to Mexico, Colombia, and other places around the world was believed to be a myth. It was a tale that was known by many through storytelling, which over the years turned into an actual realistic issue. One of the most known cartels that existed for a long time was The Medellin Cartel. It became a subculture of its own, creating a world full of violence, women, money, firearms, death but most importantly power and fear. Located in Colombia this brutal subculture will show how they become one of the wealthiest subculture in the world surpassing even its own country’s riches.