The history

The conflict is rooted in the rivalries between powerful drug cartels. These organisations are the main smugglers, transporters and wholesale distributors of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and Mexican-produced heroin in the United States. Fighting among these cartels began in 1989 when the arrest of cocaine drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo was followed by violent power struggles. Yet the passive stance of governments in the 1990s and early 2000s meant that this violence was allowed to continue. The Gulf cartel and the Sinaloa cartel are the two main rivals that have developed from this period and they are currently fighting over the control of key smuggling passages from Nuevo Laredo to San Diego.

On 11 December 2006 newly elected president Felipe Calderon sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of Michoacan to quell drug violence in the area. As the first major move on the part of the government against cartel violence, it has come to be viewed as the starting point of the war between the government and the drug cartels. During the first eighteen months of Calderon’s presidency, the Mexican government spent about $7 billion USD in the war[1]. Since 2007, 36,000 soldiers have been deployed across the country, 2,500 of which have been placed in the northern border city of Juarez[2]. It is in these northern areas that violence is raging. The United States has provided support to Mexico and Central American Countries with $1.6 billion USD in the form of the Merida Initiative, a three year international assistance plan.

The forgotten war

With so much support from the US and a crack down plan at the forefront of the government agenda, you would think the Mexican drug war would be easily won. On the contrary, drug-related violence has killed more than 2000 people this year. On 11 February 2008[3], it was reported that over 250 people had died since the beginning of the year as a result of the drug war. By April the number had risen to 900[4].

The group, Reporters Without Borders, in its annual report on Mexico for 2008, said: "freedom of expression moved forward on paper with the decriminalisation of press offences at federal level, but in practice, the country is still the most deadly in the Americas for journalists"[5]. From October 2006 to May 2007 seven journalists were killed, making it the world’s second most dangerous place to report, after Iraq.  

Analysts estimate that cartels make between $10 billion and $30 billion selling illegal drugs to the US market, rivaling Mexico’s revenues from oil exports and tourism. With so much money and power involved it’s easy to see why drug lords are not prepared to lay down their weapons, which, incidentally, tend to be AK-47s and AR-15s, as well as grenades. As many as 2,000 weapons enter Mexico each year to fuel the war between the cartels and some of the more sophisticated weapons are believed to have been stolen from US military bases. In essence, the US Drug Enforcement Administration believes the Mexican drug cartels to be among the most dangerous organised criminal groups ever seen in the history of US law enforcement.

Narco corridos

Mexican drug dealers have long been silent benefactors, building roads and churches and passing out cash or drugs to win support - or silence - in the communities where they work. As a result they are often revered as leaders of the people, and the drug kingpins even have songs written about them. The corrido is a traditional accordion-based Mexican folk ballad – generally love stories, tales of revolutionary leaders like Emiliano Zapata and famous bandits etc. Narco corridos, as you'd expect, are tuneful glorifications of the exploits of the traffickers.

The godfather of the narco corrido is Rosalino "Chalino" Sanchez who was murdered in 1992 after a concert in Culiacán, Sinaloa. Since then the number of bands that play narco corridos has increased dramatically.

Corrido performers are paid well by the traffickers for their ballads. Often, the first thing a drug runner does after a successful run is to hire someone to write a corrido about it. When asked if he wrote ballads for hire, Reynaldo Martinez, one of the most well known narco corrido writers, said: “No, but sometimes someone who likes one of my songs might give me a Land Rover.”

However, the life of a narco corrido writer is a dangerous one. The rival Gulf and Sinaloa cartels have been known to use the songs to threaten each other and boast of successful assassinations. Gratuitous videos featuring images of Humvees, automatic weapons and murder victims are frequently posted on Youtube and other websites (an example below) and many narco corrido writers have been killed for their allegiances.

Prospects for change

The conflict is not present in all of the country which is why a visit can be made to Mexico without ever knowing what is going on, as long as you stick to your nice, cozy tourist destination. The states that suffer the most are Baja California, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Sinaloa, located in the northern provinces of the country. According to Calderon’s government, since it took power more than 26,000 drug suspects have been arrested and 1.6 million rounds of ammunition have been seized from cartels[6]. The effects of the war have also been witnessed in the drugs trade in the US. In 37 states the price of cocaine has risen by as much as fifty percent while the purity of the drug has apparently dropped by eleven per cent[7].

While these figures may suggest that government action is proving effective, it cannot be denied that violence has increased, illustrating the failure of one of Calderon’s main objectives which was to reduce the violence among the cartels. The Mexican public has become caught in a battle that is hard to escape from. On 11 July 2008 the Washington Post reported that "Mexicans are horrified by almost daily reports of decapitations, shootouts and assassinations of police and municipal officials"[8]. Furthermore, corruption among police officials hinders government progress. The Post goes on to state that "the National Human Rights Commission…accused the Mexican military of wrongfully killing eight civilians at roadblocks, torturing witnesses and allowing soldiers accused of rights violations to escape prosecution during its continuing campaign against drug cartels’[9]. Last weekend mass protests took place in Mexico City in part a response to the abduction and murder of the 14-year-old son of a wealthy businessman, a case that sparked particular outrage because a police detective took part in the kidnapping.

In February 2008 a bomb exploded in Mexico City, killing one and severely injuring two others. Although it was not proven, it was believed to be a response to government action by one of the drug cartels. A German tourist Jorgen Kohl was passing by when it happened. In a state of shock he said, “Being in Mexico, I first thought it was an earthquake or something. I had no idea that bombs went off here”[10]. While you may or may not have agreed with this man at the beginning of the article, it appears that Mr. Kohl is not alone. Many of us are oblivious to the fact that Mexico is at war and it seems that the violence is not likely to subside at any time in the near future.