Ciudad Juarez is no doubt a 

dangerous place.
Home to the Carrillo Fuentes Cartel, more widely known simply as the Juarez Cartel, it has been one of
the focus points of President Felipe Calderon’s War on Drugs. It is currently estimated that 70% of all
illegal narcotics in the U.S are provided by the drug cartels in Mexico, and as one of the most important
points of entry into the United States, it should come as no surprise that Juarez has become a hotly
contested city between the drug cartels.

Yesterday marked the end of the deadliest month of the drug war, with 322 people being killed in 31
days, for an outstanding average of 10.3 deaths per day. 28,000 deaths have been reported since the
inception of the Mexican Drug war, with ~5,000 deaths in Ciudad Juarez making up the bulk of the body
count. To gain some perspective on this simple fact, take into consideration that throughout the course of
the 9-year Iraq war, only 4,393 U.S. military members lost their lives.

Mexican authorities have been quick to point out that the currently drug violence as well as the whole
drug problem as a whole is a joint problem with the United States, and as such, requires a joint solution.
In typical American fashion, the proposed joint venture was a military one, dubbed the Merida
Initiative. The Merida Initiative was signed in 2008 and pledged 1.6 billion dollars over a three-year
period. The money would be given to the Mexican government as well as to a multitude of Central
American nations in order to fund the training of counter-narcotic operations as well as to procure
equipment. The purchase of weaponry was categorically prohibited. As of 2010, only ~300 million
dollars have been delivered to Mexico.

In July 2008 a video started circulating in the Mexican media of one of the training exercises funded by
the Merida Initiative in Leon, Guanajuato. In the video a Mexican officer is being taught torture methods
by an American contractor who’s voice can be heard in the background giving instructions. At the end of
the video a blindfolded man can be seen having his head inserted in a hole in the ground while an officer
informs him that the whole is filled with excrement and rats. Leon Mayor Vicente Guerrero Reynoso,
initially defended the training and insisted that it must continue in order to train officers to resist torture in
the case that they should be kidnapped by drug cartels. Due to the public outrage caused by the video, the
training program was suspended.
The United States has also impacted the Mexican drug war in another key aspect: weaponry. Statistics
released by the Mexican government reveal that 80% of all weapons confiscated from the drug cartels
originated in the United States. While Mexican authorities and diplomats have pleaded the United States
to put forth stricter gun regulations in order to curve back gun violence in Mexico, these pleas have fallen
on deaf ears. In a widely criticized address to the United States Congress president Calderon said the
following:

“I understand that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to guarantee good American citizens the
ability to defend themselves and their nation, but believe me, many of these guns are not going to honest
American hands.”

President Calderon then went on to urge America to “consider reinstating” the assault weapons ban
initially passed by President Bill Clinton in 1994. The Obama administration has shown no indication that
it shall attempt to comply with President Calderon’s request as it would require taking on the powerful
National Rifle Association and its supporters.

The United States is the number 1 market for illegal drugs and as long as this simple fact remains true and
demand for drugs remains high, drug related violence shall persist in its southern neighbor. On America’s
unquenchable thirst for illicit drugs, I believe former Attorney General Medina-Mora said it best:

“In that sense, the U.S. is already financing this war. It is just financing it on the wrong side.”

It is the United States’ thirst for drugs that should be curtailed and attacked. A head-front engagement
with the drug cartels has only claimed lives, security and innocence as its victims and not the drug cartels
lust for money and power.

In a tragic sense of irony, the United States spends around 40 billion dollars a year combating the illegal
drug trade yet at the same time it is their very own citizens that both create a demand for the
aforementioned trade, as well as provide the drug cartels with much needed funding required to fight
back. It doesn’t help the Mexican cause that they are constantly out-gunned thanks in no small part due to
weak firearm regulations within the United States.

Despite all these efforts, drug lords continue to become billionaires and run unchecked throughout the
nation.

Meanwhile, Mexico burns.