Cartels Cause a Refugee Crisis Meanwhile, not only are the cartels moving drugs across the border into the United States -- and committing acts of terrorism -- they are creating an "incentive for people to flee" northward from their communities, because the Central American countries where cocaine and heroin are produced are very dangerous for citizens in those areas. Basically, according to Ted Carpenter, writing in CNN, the cartels have "seized control of human smuggling routes through Mexico" (Carpenter, 2014)
This paper covers the security threat that the Mexican drug cartels pose to Mexico and to the United States. Mexico's Drug War An article in the Council on Foreign Relations, researched and written by Brianne Lee, explains that in 2006, the then-president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, partnered with the United States in a "massive crackdown against drug trafficking organizations" (Lee, 2014)
These cartels have expanded into dozens of other activities ranging from kidnapping, bribery, money laundering and extortion in legal organizations such as the Mexican soccer teams (Camp 9). Given the temperament of their business, to produce drugs and transport them via and from Mexico to the United States of America, drug cartels have augmented their competition for management and control of the border (Alexander and Kraft 217)
Both employ the use of violence or violence threats as means of achieving their objectives. Some of the tactics employed by terrorists and other criminals are akin and they include bombings, assassination, kidnappings, coercion, extortion and intimidation (Borgeson and Valeri 18)
Modern drug cartels in Mexico are a wider reflection of organized crime. These cartels have expanded into dozens of other activities ranging from kidnapping, bribery, money laundering and extortion in legal organizations such as the Mexican soccer teams (Camp 9)
Defining Terrorism and Drug Cartels Terrorism refers to the action of deliberate inflict performed to instigate grave destruction or demise to persons with the main objective of overawing or pleading with a person, local or global organization or a given country's administration to adopt a certain policy. Following the 9/11 terrorist attack, FBI defined terrorism as, "the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment therefore in furtherance of political or social objectives" (Christop 14)
31). The Russian mafia augmented their trade deals with FARC, and the Russians developed arms pipeline to Colombia that brought in numerous weapons and tons of other supplies to support FARC fight their war against the Colombian government (Holmes, Gutierrez de Pineres, and Curtin 250)
The activities of the terrorist operatives and criminal underlings are not limited because terrorist or criminal headquarters are no longer in a position to micromanage their taskforce. Mid-level and lower level criminals are capitalizing on their independence to create synergistic nexuses amid the two groups (Horgan and Braddock 332)
These groups avoid arrest and carry on their activities through intimidating witnesses, killing and corrupting public officials. For instance, in 1999, members from the Gulf Cartel Group detained and attacked two United States agents, an FBI agent, and a DEA agent in Matamoros (Innes 103)
Terrorists and criminals have worked together on some level for a period. International money laundering crackdowns makes it intricate for terrorist financiers to send money to their operatives (Kalin, 742)
DHS is a cabinet unit of the U.S. federal government (Mark 278
The arrest of a FARC figure in Mexico convinced American and Mexican authorities of a Colombian link to the Arellano-Felix-run Tijuana cartel. The states department trusted that FARC supplied cocaine to the Tijuana cartel in order to receive weapons and cash (McCollum 31)
Drug cartels are using illicit weapons Imported from America to control major sections of Mexico. This trend raises fears of terrorists' mafias controlling Northern Mexico parts and this not only threatens the country, its citizens and properties, it also acts as threat to the United States (Morales 141)
The convergence entails a dynamic that allows both entities to benefit financially. This convergence, which entails long-term and short-term agreements, exists along a continuum and its aim is to exchange expertise such as counterfeiting, bomb-making or money laundering, or operational support that enhances access to the smuggling routes (Piazza 299)
Mexico: Terrorism and Organized Crime The convergence in numerous means of organized criminal activities that include terrorism and drug trafficking is a developing concern in the United States and the entire world. Some professionals in this filed imply that the increasing number of cases of terrorism and organized crime groups are jointly coordinated and the trend is increasingly developing into a worldwide phenomenon (Rollins 2)
The government of Mexico, police, judicial infrastructure and politicians face sustained pressure and assault from criminal gangs and drug cartels. International criminal organizations that convergence via drug cartels in Mexico spawn massive amount of corruption, intimidation, violence, and threatens the security of towns and cities across America (Shanty and Mishra 187)
Drug Cartels What is the relationship between Colombian and Mexican drug organizations? Looking first at the background as to how cocaine came to be a profitable product, it is well-known that cocaine was a legal drug in Europe and in North and South America in the late 19th century up through the middle of the 20th century. Legal exports of cocaine in the early twentieth century amounted to "…ten metric tons" but legal exports of cocaine "…fell to under have a ton by 1950, when cocaine first became criminalized in South America" (Gootenberg, 2012)
Drug Cartels What is the relationship between Colombian and Mexican drug organizations? Looking first at the background as to how cocaine came to be a profitable product, it is well-known that cocaine was a legal drug in Europe and in North and South America in the late 19th century up through the middle of the 20th century. Legal exports of cocaine in the early twentieth century amounted to "…ten metric tons" but legal exports of cocaine "…fell to under have a ton by 1950, when cocaine first became criminalized in South America" (Gootenberg, 2012)
S. government sent to Colombia -- the Gulf Cartel and Sinola Cartel are big, brutal, and known for their "…bloody, violent image" (Kellner, et al
S. "…war on drugs has served as a pretext to intervene in Mexican affairs…rather than as a genuine attack on drug problems" (Mercille, 2011)