The drug war in Mexico

Despite several months of increasingly harsh crackdowns on drug gangs in northern Mexico and unflagging calls of "stay the course," the Mexican government has been unable to defeat the drug gangs, indeed, they seem to be retaliating with greater and greater ferocity. It remains to be seen whether the Federales have enough power to defeat the cartels in military combat, let alone control the drug trade.

To my eye, Mexico is looking more and more like another Columbia. The problem is exactly the same--for the cartels (or in Columbia, various guerilla organizations), drugs are a source of income that is on the same order of magnitude as the national GDP, so if pressed, they can actually mount a reasonable challenge to the federal military. With over 2000 people killed last year, and over 900 killed this year so far, this is open war.

Just like Columbia, the American public can barely be bothered to stop watching Paris and Lindsay and notice this problem. How many people have died because we can't enforce our own laws? It's nearly 3000 in the past 17 months in Mexico alone. The horror is numbing.

UPDATE:
I hadn't noticed this. Apparently, there is a vigilante organization called the "Gente Nueva" that has killed several people associated with the Zeta cartel near Veracruz. One step closer to total anarchy.

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