Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:06 am
Time: 12:06 am
Results for drug cartels (mexico)
8 results foundAuthor: Walser, Ray Title: Mexico, Drug Cartels, and the Merida Initiative: A Fight We Cannot Afford to Lose Summary: Since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in 2006, a virulent war has raged with the Mexican drug cartels, and this drug-related violence has spilled across the U.S. border, threatening U.S. lives and public safety. Geostrategic pessimists fear that the U.S. has been taking Mexico's stability for granted and warn that Mexico is teetering on the brink of a drug-induced disaster. However, the seriousness of the drug threat to Mexico also presents a strategic opportunity. At the invitation of the Mexican government, the Bush Administration is working to establish a partnership to make Mexico safer and more secure without sacrificing the sovereignty of either nation. The Bush Administration's Merida Initiative—a three-year, $1.5 billion anti-drug assistance package for Mexico and Central America—is a quantitative and qualitative jump in support for the drug fight in the region. Unlike Plan Colombia, which helped to rescue Colombia from the throes of a narco-war, the Merida Initiative will provide assistance in equipment, technology, and training without a significant U.S. military footprint in Mexico. President George W. Bush signed the Merida Initiative into law as part of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 on June 30, 2008. In Mexico and in the press, the Merida Initiative is being viewed as a critical test of U.S.–Mexican relations. Its implementation will be closely scrutinized on both sides of the aisle in Congress. The Merida Initiative could become an important legacy of the Bush presidency in the Western Hemisphere and should create a solid platform for U.S.–Mexican cooperation for the next Administration. The initiative, however, is just a start. The U.S. needs to do more to secure the border, reduce the flows of illegal arms and illicit cash south into Mexico, and alter immigration laws to permit temporary workers to cross the border legally to help fill the U.S. demand for labor. Policymakers need to develop a comprehensive strategy that covers all transit and source countries. Mexico needs to continue exercising the political will to combat the deadly drug cartels and continue reforming its judicial system, overhauling police and law enforcement, and modernizing and developing its economy. Finally, the Mexican government needs to take an active role in preventing illegal third-country nationals from transiting Mexican territory, as well as in closing down smuggling organizations that operate on Mexican soil and discouraging Mexican citizens from entering the U.S. illegally. Both nations would benefit substantially from a return to law and order on both sides of the border. Details: Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, 2008. 12p. Source: Internet Resource; Backgrounder, No. 2163 Year: 2008 Country: Mexico URL: Shelf Number: 119542 Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico)Drug ControlDrug PolicyDrug TraffickingViolence |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Money Laundering and Bulk Cash Smuggling: Challenges for the Merida Initiative Summary: This paper looks at three distinct parts of the money structure of the Mexican drug trafficking organizations. One is bulk cash shipment, moved largely by vehicle across the U.S.-Mexican border. Another is the broader issue of how other types of drug money circulate in Mexico's formal and informal economies and the how that is used. A third is how money obtained from the cocaine trade is moved back to purchase more cocaine in order to keep the cartels operational. Details: Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars - Mexico Institute; San Diego: University of San Diego, Trans-Border Institute, 2010. 30p. Source: Internet Resource; Working Paper Series on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation; Accessed August 17, 2010 at: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Money%20Laundering%20and%20Bulk%20Cash%20Smuggling.%20Farah.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Mexico URL: http://wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/Money%20Laundering%20and%20Bulk%20Cash%20Smuggling.%20Farah.pdf Shelf Number: 119620 Keywords: Cash SmugglingDrug Cartels (Mexico)Drug TraffickingMoney Laundering (Mexico)Terrorism Financing |
Author: Kan, Paul Rexton Title: Mexico's "Narco-Refugees": The Looming Challenge for U.S. National Security Summary: Since 2006, when Mexican president Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels, there has been a rise in the number of Mexican nationals seeking political asylum in the United States to escape the ongoing drug cartel violence in their home country. Political asylum cases in general are claimed by those who are targeted for their political beliefs or ethnicity in countries that are repressive or failing. Mexico is neither. Nonetheless, if the health of the Mexican state declines because criminal violence continues, increases, or spreads, U.S. communities will feel an even greater burden on their systems of public safety and public health from “narco-refugees.” Given the ever-increasing brutality of the cartels, the question is whether and how the United States Government should begin to prepare for what could be a new wave of migrants coming from Mexico. Allowing Mexicans to claim asylum could potentially open a floodgate of migrants to the United States during a time when there is a very contentious national debate over U.S. immigration laws pertaining to illegal immigrants. On the other hand, to deny the claims of asylum seekers and return them to Mexico, where they might very well be killed, strikes at the heart of American values of justice and humanitarianism. This monograph focuses on the asylum claims of Mexicans who unwillingly leave Mexico, rather than those who willingly enter the United States legally or illegally. To navigate wisely in this sea of complexity will require greater understanding and vigilance at all levels of the U.S. Government. Details: Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2011. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 4, 2011 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1083.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1083.pdf Shelf Number: 0 Keywords: Border SecurityDrug Cartels (Mexico)Drug TraffickingHomicidesOrganized CrimeViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Hale, Gary J. Title: A "Failed State" in Mexico: Tamaulipas Declares Itself Ungovernable Summary: Mexico finds itself in a precarious position, given the level of victimization that the drug cartel wars are imposing on its citizens and the resultant loss of civil authority that is increasingly being eroded by pressures placed on local and state governments by drug trafficking organizations. The larger part of the violence is occurring in two regions in Mexico - namely, the Pacific states, where drugs and chemicals are introduced into the country; and the northern border, where those same illegal commodities are ultimately exported into the United States. Criminality is visibly gaining ground over local governments, gradually subverting the abilities of mayors and governors to function effectively. Drug cartels are controlling police assets from behind the barrel of a gun or with more money than public coffers can afford, thereby negating the ability of elected officials to direct security resources from the chambers of city halls and state government houses. The cartels make and enforce their own rules, often with little to no interference from legitimate municipal authorities. Mexican officials continue being threatened, kidnapped, tortured, and killed, most often with impunity, and common folk are in fear, unable to freely carry on the tasks of daily living because of the war that endlessly rages around them. The implications of an admitted loss of governmental control in the Mexico border area stretching from Nueva Ciudad Guerrero in the northwest to Matamoros in the southeast, and beyond to Monterrey and Ciudad Juarez is troubling not only because the cartels are victimizing anyone who crosses their path, or that drug smuggling is occurring despite warring among the cartels and between the cartels and the government, but because the adjacent states of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and Chihuahua could readily suffer the same loss of control if the strength and influence of the cartels are not reversed and subsequently eliminated. Details: Houston, TX: James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, 2011. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 31, 2012 at http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/DRUG-pub-HaleTamaulipasFailedState-072611.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/DRUG-pub-HaleTamaulipasFailedState-072611.pdf Shelf Number: 123911 Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico)Drug Trafficking (Mexico)Drug ViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Carpenter, Ted Galen Title: Undermining Mexico's Dangerous Drug Cartels Summary: Since President Felipe Calderón launched a military-led offensive against Mexico's powerful drug cartels in December 2006, some 42,000 people have perished. The situation is so bad that the Mexican government's authority in several portions of the country, especially along the border with the United States, is shaky, and the growing turbulence creates concerns that Mexico is in danger of becoming a failed state. Although such fears are excessive at this point, even that dire scenario can no longer be ruled out. U.S. political leaders and the American people also worry that Mexico's corruption and violence is seeping across the border into the United States. That danger is still fairly limited, but the trend is ominous. Both the number and severity of incidents along the border are rising. Experts propose several strategies for dealing with Mexico's drug violence. One suggestion is to apply the model used earlier to defeat the Colombian drug cartels. But the victory in Colombia is not as complete as proponents contend, and the situation in Mexico is far less favorable to using that strategy. Another suggested approach is to try to restore Mexico's status quo ante, in which the government largely looked the other way while drug traffickers sent their product to the United States. But too much has changed politically in Mexico for that approach, which would be only a temporary Band-Aid solution in any case. The only lasting, effective strategy is to defund the Mexican drug cartels. Reducing their billions of dollars in revenue requires the United States, as the principal consumer market for illegal drugs, to abandon its failed prohibition policy. That move would eliminate the lucrative black-market premium and greatly reduce the financial resources the cartels have available to bribe officials or hire enforcers to kill competitors and law enforcement personnel and intimidate the Mexican people. A refusal to abandon prohibition means that Mexico's agony will likely worsen and pose a significant security problem for the United States. Details: Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2011. 20p. Source: Policy Analysis No. 688: Internet Resource: Accessed February 10, 2012 at http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/PA688.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/PA688.pdf Shelf Number: 124075 Keywords: Border Security (U.S. and Mexico)Drug Cartels (Mexico)Drug TraffickingViolence |
Author: Eberle, Miriam Title: The Logic of Drug-Related Violence: A Case Study of Mexico from 2006 to 2011 Summary: Mexico has experienced a dramatic escalation of drug-related violence under Mexican President Calderón which has reached a level of intensity and atrocity transcending previous periods of drug-related violence. How to explain the dramatic rise of drug-related violence since 2006? Why are some states plagued with extremely high levels of drug-related violence, whereas others remain largely unaffected? The thesis seeks to explain the variation of drug related violence across time and space by using Stathis Kalyvas’ theory of selective violence. The central propositions and hypotheses of Kalyvas’ theory will be tested by using data on the Mexican case in general and Michoacán in 2009 in particular. The aim is to show whether or not the theory correctly predicts drug-related violence in Mexico. However, there have been some major impediments that complicated the use of Kalyvas theoretical model on the Mexican case: (1) data is often lacking and incomplete; (2) the Mexican “conflict” is a mixture of irregular and conventional warfare; (3) there is more than one conflict, namely one between the Mexican government and the DTOs, and various other conflicts among the different DTOs themselves; and (4) the relationship between DTOs and state officials cannot be compared with the one that exists between incumbents and insurgents in a classical sense. Although only a plausibility probe, the case of Mexico between 2006 and 2011 and of Michoacán in 2009 in particular, provides strong evidence that Kalyvas’ theoretical model can even be applied on this case: (1) civilian support matters for the outcome of the conflict and the actors involved are eager to obtain it; (2) violence plays a key role in obtaining control and collaboration; (3) Mexican DTOs use both types of violence, though selective violence seems to be the predominant type of violence. A shift from indiscriminate violence to more selective violence within the process of the conflict does not seem to conform to the empirical reality. The measurement of territorial control on the case of Michoacán turned out to be difficult; in some cases impossible. Furthermore, there was only little empirical evidence. It was therefore not possible to make rigorous hypotheses testing. Despite these limitations there was evidence that: (1) zone 1 and zone 5 are affected by low levels of violence; (2) zone 2 and 4 are affected by high levels of violence; and (3) Kalyvas’ last hypothesis for zones of parity could neither be confirmed nor denied because of the lack of empirical evidence. However, I assume that the internal logic of DTOs must contradict this hypothesis. Instead I argue that they are equally affected by violence like zone 2 and 4. The following recommendations can be made: (1) the Mexican government has to put more efforts to obtain civilian support which implies combating corruption, regaining trust of the civilian population and winning the “war of perceptions” by preventing DTOs from spreading their propaganda; (2) active or passive collaboration with a DTO does not necessarily mean sympathy, it might also be the result of lacking alternatives and a will to survive; (3) the mere reliance on the Mexican armed forces is counterproductive and has contributed to the escalating levels in violence; as a result (4) Kalyvas’ theory of selective violence should be integrated into the policy process. This bears practical contributions, namely to better interpret the varying patterns of drug-related violence which could help to produce more subtle approaches how to cope with DTOs. Details: The Netherlands: Radboud University Nijmegan, 2011. 129p. Source: Thesis: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2012 at http://geography2.ruhosting.nl/masterthesis/scripties/EberleMiriam.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico URL: http://geography2.ruhosting.nl/masterthesis/scripties/EberleMiriam.pdf Shelf Number: 124669 Keywords: Corruption (Mexico)Drug Cartels (Mexico)Drug Markets (Mexico)Drug Trafficking (Mexico)Drug Violence (Mexico)Police Behavior (Mexico) |
Author: McGee, Sibel Title: Mexico's Cartel Problem: A Systems Thinking Perspective Summary: The unprecedented increase in recent years of cartel-related violence has presented growing challenges both to Mexico’s socio-political stability and to the United States’ (US) National interests. Current efforts to address Mexican cartels treat these organizations as only drug-trafficking networks and focus on law enforcement measures to interdict their operations. In this paper, we approach the cartel problem from a systems thinking perspective and present a holistic assessment of these complex criminal networks operating in multiple domains. By highlighting the dynamic relationships and complex feedbacks between critical variables involved in different domains of cartel operations, we identify the inherently systemic causal factors contributing to the problem situation. We argue that the efforts that rely purely on law enforcement measures will fail to produce lasting change unless they are coupled with high leverage strategies that address the root causes of illicit activities in Mexico. Details: Arlington, VA: Applied Systems Thinking Institute, Analytic Services, Inc., 2011.10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 7, 2012 at http://www.anser.org/docs/asyst-doc/Mexican_Cartels.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.anser.org/docs/asyst-doc/Mexican_Cartels.pdf Shelf Number: 126577 Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico)Drug TraffickingLaw EnforcementViolence |
Author: Grayson, George W. Title: The Evolution of Los Zetas in Mexico and Central America: Sadism as an Instrument of Cartel Warfare Summary: The United States has diplomatic relations with 194 independent nations. Of these, none is more important to America than Mexico in terms of trade, investment, tourism, natural resources, migration, energy, and security. In recent years, narco-violence has afflicted Mexico with more than 50,000 drug-related murders since 2007 and some 26,000 men, women, and children missing. President Enrique Pena Nieto has tried to divert national attention from the bloodshed through reforms in energy, education, anti-hunger, health-care, and other areas. Even though the death rate has declined since the chief executive took office on December 1, 2012, other crimes continue to plague his nation. Members of the business community report continual extortion demands; the national oil company PEMEX suffers widespread theft of oil, gas, explosives, and solvents (with which to prepare methamphetamines); hundreds of Central American migrants have shown up in mass graves; and the public identifies the police with corruption and villainy. Washington policymakers, who overwhelmingly concentrate on Asia and the Mideast, would be well-advised to focus on the acute dangers that lie principally below the Rio Grande, but whose deadly avatars are spilling into our nation. Details: Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, 2014. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 13, 2014 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1195.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1195.pdf Shelf Number: 133040 Keywords: Drug Cartels (Mexico)Drug TraffickingDrug-Related ViolenceOrganized CrimeViolenceViolent Crime |