Juarez, Mexico. Fifty people were killed in drug-cartel related assassinations, including two American consular employees the weekend of March 12th in Ciudad Juarez. An American newborn baby was left strapped to the back seat of the car while the parents were shot to death. The husband of a second U.S. consular officer was killed and their two young children seriously wounded.
According to multiple news reports including the New York Times and the Financial Times both shootings were led by Mexico's most powerful drug cartels. No one wants to name names. The traffickers implied by the press are the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels. Among the several warring syndicates these two are by far the bloodiest. They have been fighting a turf war in Juarez ever since Calderon declared his "war on drugs" at the beginning of his sexenio, in 2006. The reason for the unprecedented shootings is to maintain control of one the most important distribution routes into the United States. The United States is Mexico's number one consumer market for drugs and children.
An unnamed American official confirmed that drug related violence between the Mexican-American border, was out of control. According to other news sources President Calderon stationed 5,000 soldiers patrolling the streets of Juarez. At around the same time 2,600 federal police and 3 000 municipal police were dispatched. The total number of law enforcement officials in Juarez amounts to 10,600. The number of cartel related murders surpassed 17,000. The numbers don't add up. If you do the math two questions remain: How can violent killings continue with ten thousand troops marching up and down the streets? Who is on the take in either side of the border?
The most imminent and certainly dangerous war threatening Americans today finally made its way home. A spill-off from President Calderon's anti-drug strategy, the turf war is now winding its way through the southwestern U. S. unmatched in strength and number. Juarez-El Paso or El Paso del Norte is known as a bi-national metropolitan area between Mexico and the United States according to the CIA country fact book. With more than 2.3 million Mexicans and Americans living side by side it is one of the largest cross-border metropolitan areas in the world.
If our borders are not secure our country will never be. Mexico is where the White House needs to most urgently focus. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission the Mexican border is a porous tract of land more than 1,969 miles long. Yes, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran continue to represent a national threat. Nevertheless, the soldiers sent to fight those battles arrive mentally and physically prepared. While the foot soldiers on either side of the U.S. border fighting Calderon's "drug war" are untrained, unarmed American civilians, children and innocent bystanders.
President Calderon needs vital American resources and support today. Mexico cannot and should not fight this war singlehandedly given the United States is the number one consumer for drugs and trafficked children.
Michael Evans: Juarez and the Action We Should Take
The violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico is not the result of unintelligent US or Mexican policy. It's the result of a lack of opportunity for what were once vulnerable Mexican youth.
Several years ago, I saw a political cartoon in Mexico City's Excelsior, a traditional daily newspaper. It depicted a figure of a poor Mexican with his sandals sitting on a floor with his back to a wall. There was a second wall separating him from the figure of Uncle Sam all decked out in his red, white, and blue outfit with the corresponding hat looking like he was totally stoned. Uncle Sam yelled at the Mexican, "Eres corrupto - You're corrupt". The Mexican responded with, "Ya callate, pinche marijuano - Aw shut up, you damn pothead". That said everything.