The Economics Behind Drug Trafficking and Cartels in Mexico: A Study of the Cartel’s Influence on Mexico and the Expansion to West Africa

Today the number are in the war on drug is a huge failure with devastated unintended consequences, it lead to mass incarceration in the us, to corruption, to political destabilization, and violence in latin america, asia, and africa. To systemic human right abuse across the world.”-Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

The drug war has cost many problem problem in many countries especially in mexico where the heat of the problem has come to be from raging war between the govt of mexico and drug cartels, from many cities not being safe because of the constant violence throughout the country to economic disruption and more, more than 164,000 people had died between 2007 and 2014 because of the drug war in mexico more than the iraq and afghanistan war zones combine (Kurzgesagt).

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.

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

Drug trafficking has plagued the U.S. and Mexican border for many years.  The lack of cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican government has allowed millions of dollars worth of drugs to be smuggled over the border. However, recently the Mexican government extradited thirteen prisoners to the U.S showing it realizes that it can’t stop the drug problem on its own. One of the many factors that led the Mexican government to start extraditing was the escape of Mr. Guzman. This event embarrassed the Mexican government as it showed their inability to keep powerful drug traffickers contained. The sad truth is that the demand for drugs will always be present and people will always be able to supply them. Though governments try to enforce drug laws nationally, they can really only restrict the flow of drugs across the border. When Cormac McCarthy wrote the book No Country for Old Men, he tried to capture the brutality of the drug world, and the effect it can have.

Since the 1900’s Mexico has been run by several drug cartels, and leaders. These drug cartels have been increasing their territory, murder tolls, and power. The cartels have started to take over the government and Mexico has been becoming known as a lost state. Drug cartels are rising to power because of the lack of government, and structure which also brings fear to all the regular citizens throughout Mexico. Many citizens regularly get murdered for lying to the cartel, informing the authorities about the cartels, or antagonizing the cartels. Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for several decades, their influence has increased since the demise of the Colombian Cali in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market and in 2007 controlled 90% of the cocaine entering the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, has led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States. As violence levels rise so do tension levels.

Introduction I. Let’s say you’re with friends in Mexico on summer break and you’re staying in one of the many beautiful beaches but little do you know that the area that you’re visiting is controlled and monitored by a ruthless drug cartel. II. My name is Luis De La Cruz III. I am here today to inform you about the three major reasons why drug cartels are dangerous.

The Mexican cartel is a ruthless crime origination. It controls Mexico through bribes and fear. There are many factions of the cartel, and they are at constant war with one another. They war over many reasons from drugs to human trafficking. These battles often spill out into the streets causing the loose of many innocent lives. The cartel has a strangle hold on the Mexican people.

In the drug world, there are a great number of networks. Trafficking of drugs is a very serious operation and there is a lot of money involved inside this system. With the millions of individuals that use drugs, it would prove to very difficult to meet the demands without people trafficking (4). Despite their reason for taking drugs, there is always illegal substances on the market. Users are willing to spend well above the price for these substances (2). Areas in Asia and South America have a vast amount of resources and many people make their living off of the drug industry. Coca plants are grown all around the country.

Through bloody feuding, Mexico’s main criminal insurgencies, including: The Knight Templar, Los Zetas, Sinaloa Cartel, and The Gulf Cartel, divide the country into gang territories. Since 2006, Mexico 's powerful drug-trafficking organizations have committed more than 60,000 drug-related homicides, including the mass murder of innocent civilians. Due to civilian massacre increase, kidnappings and extortion have become a mundane event. In February 2014, the Mexican government confirmed that 26,000 people still remain "disappeared." From 2007 to 2011, nearly 70% of guns recovered from these Mexican criminal activities originated from the United States. In addition, Mexican cartels take between 19 to 29 billion dollars annually from U.S. drug sales alone. Although conflict between Mexican cartels ensues all across the country, the main focus of the dispute lies in the seizing of the capital. Due to the demand of narcotics located in the United States, however, the deadliest part of this war takes place in the Northern part of Mexico, on the frontier, in la Cuidad Juarez and Tijuana. According to one expert:

As we all know Drug Trafficking has been a major problem for years now. The Mexican Drug War is one that has existed for decades which the government’s goal has been to get rid of the drug violence but there hasn’t been any solution to solve this illegal issue. “Under the Presidency of Felipe Calderón (2007–2012) the Mexican government has made an effort to stop their operations using crackdowns. As a result, more than 50,000 people have died in the last six years and drug traffic has not declined” (González, 1). “Although the Mexican government has been fighting the drug industry in the last decades, Drug Trafficking Organization (DTOs) have been expanding across space and violence has increased dramatically” (Gonzalez, 2). This could be because

But recent investigations have revealed new numbers, between 2007 and 2014, more than 164,000 Mexicans were victims of homicide and “some counts have blamed the drug war for as much as 55 percent of all homicides. Others have put the estimate as low as 34 percent” (Breslow, 2015). Drug-related crimes are hard to accredit to drug-related crimes because of its nature. Even before 2006, crimes were hardly related to drug activities and criminal organizations, it was after 2006 when, because of the raise of violence and the social media coverage of the acts violence within cartels, authorities start noticing and recognizing such crimes as drug related. Mexico as a country has had a violent past, and the violence has not stopped. The roots of the ongoing conflict between the Mexican government and the drug cartels can be traced back within Mexico’s own culture and

Drug trafficking has become an increasingly growing problem in the world today. Illegal drug trade is a worldwide black market consisting of production, distribution, packaging, and sale of illegal substances. Although today’s "War on Drugs" is a modern phenomenon, drug problems have been a common problem throughout history. The market for illegal drugs is massive, when we consider the estimated global drug trade value is worth $321 billion (Vulliamy). The most drug trafficking happens on the border between Mexico and the United States. Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon said, “Our neighbor is the largest consumer of drugs in the world. And everybody wants to sell him drugs through our door and our window”

The drug problem in the U.S. and around the world is an important issue and seems to be a difficult problem to tackle across the board. The inflow of drugs has become one of the largest growths in transnational crime operations; illicit drug use in the United States makes it very difficult for nation states police and customs forces to get a handle on the issues. War on drugs, drug trafficking has long been an issue for the United States. There has been a proclamation of “war on drugs” for the past 44 years.

Since 2006, Mexico has rapidly climbed the list of potential trouble spots for U.S. policy makers (Brands, May 2009). Exportation of drugs is a huge problem on top of the cartel violence the drugs were still getting out of Mexico into the U.S. The strategy narcotics analyst showed that 90 percent of cocaine was smuggled through Mexico alone. The Congressional Research Report concluded that for almost four decades Mexico has been among the most important producers and suppliers of heroin, marijuana and later methamphetamine to the U.S. market (Beithel, 2009). Drug trafficking in Mexico has claimed thousands of lives both from civilians and government officials which seems like a war with no victims and a never ending battle. Regardless of Calderon’s