Anderson Cooper To Report Live From US-Mexico Border

For the first time in years, Mexico is making headlines in the United States for something other than immigration. The raging drug wars have captured the attention of the Obama administration and the American public. And it only took beheadings, thousands of killings, hundreds of kidnappings in Phoenix and fears that America's southern neighbor might become a "failed state."

CNN's Anderson Cooper will report live from the US-Mexico border this Wednesday and Thursday for a special report called "The War Next Door," airing at 10pm EST on CNN. The Huffington Post spoke to Cooper about the report, which will focus on the drug war in Mexico and how it has claimed the lives of about 8,000 people, terrorized the nation and appears to be advancing into the United States.

"This is topic number one for people in Mexico," Cooper said, adding that the violence cuts across all economic levels and increasingly affects more and more of the country. "There is a lot of fear, a lot of concern, and a lot of frustration with the government."

The special report will address the causes of the conflict and what both the United States and Mexican governments are doing to combat it, Cooper said. The Mexican government has declared war on drug traffickers, and the Obama administration has vowed to send more agents and equipment to the border. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to Mexico today, and President Obama will visit in April.

The crisis in Mexico is receiving significant attention in the United States because the level of violence has dramatically increased, the attacks have become more gruesome, the violence has spilled over into the United States and the United States is no longer focused on a gripping presidential election, Cooper said.

"There was so much focus on the election and domestic politics," he said. Now that the election is over and the violence has reached unprecedented levels, "we can't help but pay attention to Mexico."

The issue is also getting attention because with a change of administration comes a review of policy, Cooper said. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared from the beginning that she would make this a priority. On Tuesday, she unveiled the White House plan for combating the drug cartels, which includes increasing the number of immigration and customs agents, drug agents and anti-gun trafficking agents working along the border, according to the AP.

Some say that the violence has increased because the Mexican government has cracked down on drug cartels, Cooper said. As the larger carters are broken apart, he explained, smaller gangs pop up and begin to fight one another over territory. The smaller gangs are younger, more violent and borrow tactics from Iraq such as beheading victims and making public statements, he said.

In an effort to further break apart the larger cartels, the Mexican government Monday offered $2 million for information that would lead to the arrest of top drug lords.

"The Mexican authorities want to take out the larger cartels and then only have to deal with the smaller, less sophisticated gangs," Cooper said. They want to arrest the drug lords and extradite them to the United States in order to keep them out of Mexican prisons where they can continue their trafficking efforts. With the top drug lords arrested and in the United States, Cooper said, the Mexican authorities would only have to deal with the smaller groups.

"It then becomes a more localized policing issue," rather than a war on drug lords as it is now.

Cooper will also interview a Mexican journalist, Lydia Cacho, during his report, and address the threats the drug war has posed on members of the media.

"They are on the front lines, in the cross hairs," Cooper said of the journalists who face great personal risk for covering the drug cartels. "These people are heroic."

Comments

[AlligatorShuz]

Anderson Cooper son of Gloria Vanderbilt.....

[zelda777]

I watched this depressing CNN program last night from my very charming Mexican casita in my enchanted village, where I rarely watch American TV. Mexican cable is much more fun, with all the cheerful and/or romantic music videos, futbol Mexicano, etc. But I digress.

This whole narco issue needs to be put into perspective;

1) This border town level of violence is NOT typical of all of Mexico. There is no reason to be scared to visit here. My area is full of northerner snowbirds who drove down with no problems. I see their plates and ask them.

2) The US, itself, has a scary level of psychotic random violence, which could happen anytime, anywhere. Never mind all the typical urban violence, which hardly gets a nod in the media.

3) It is estimated that around 35 MILLION American drug addicts spend about about $64 BILLION on drugs a year. The US has a very serious addiction problem, illegal, and legal, a sign of a psychologically bereft culture.

4) 90% of the weapons used by the cartels are smuggled down from the US, where it is ridiculously easy to buy ASSAULT WEAPONS!! How crazy is that?

For a another view of life in an especially enchanting Mexican village, please check out these fotos:

http://community.webshots.com/user/mmmwww777

[randyjet]

If the US would actually secure our border by building a fence along it, we could stop most of the illegal drugs, illegals, and gun runners. There is no barrier that is foolproof, but it sure would cut down the traffic considerably and we could use other resources to go after the ones that we miss.

I used to live on the border for many years and I loved going into Mexico to eat, shop, and tour. I won't be doing that any time soon now. There are at least one hundred or more AMERICANS from Laredo who have been kidnapped, and are still missing. Guess what? They are all mostly Mexican Americans too. It is outrageous that the US government is not mounting an all out effort to find those poor people. The media refuses to report on it, and is only now beginning to take an interest in this. I guess that some Anglos must have been included in the disappeared now.

I am also upset that the US does not demand that ALL employers along the border use E-Verify to make sure that only Americans get to work here. The Mexicans make damn sure that you have the right to work in Mexico. This would raise wages by at least half if we did that. Of course, the American employers would hate that.

[greysilk]

Just another phony non-CNN-event. Stories from the last couple of months - anything with Mexico in the title. Crap. I

[Renee27]

The documentary "Cocaine Cowboys" depicts cocaine trafficking in Florida during the 80s recession. It is a good example of what happens when the government in the allows drug trafficking to get out of hand.

I am glad the President is tackling this problem right now.

....I will definitely check out the Anderson Cooper special on Mexico. Hopefully they will post it online. It sounds interesting.

[mwoman]

Well, it's about time someone went down there!

[BobsNotWorking]

I'm sorry. After Anderson Cooper allowed his program to be used as a forum for CNN and Ed Henry to attempt to spin his ridiculous AIG Bonus Outrage question at Obama's primetime news conference into an "I followed up with a hard hitting question after Obama dodged it the first time" kind of scenario - Anderson Cooper has no credibility left. The whole world saw what happened. Ed Henry wouldn't let go of a tabloid style question and Obama simply put him in his place. For CNN to attempt to spin it as something else is disgraceful. I wonder if CNN really thinks their going to out perform FOX in at demographic? I became an avid CNN watcher back during the time when they delivered hard news. I guess they are never going back to that and, oh well, I'm gone. What a waste.

[Lazslo]

Here it comes, the zenophobic media treatment of Latin America. Saw it coming about a week ago and now it's here. Bottom line in these "news" stories: brown people bad, white people good, therefore must take government action to justify pillaging our neighbors to the south.

[DC]

Why is Anderson Cooper news?

[AZterritory]

This is probably going to be another flavor-of-the-month type of thing--seen it too many times before. A few visits by honchos to the border region, an uproar, promises, then . . . nada. Trust me, living on the border here in southern AZ, this has ben going on for YEARS and YEARS. Many counties in AZ are already 'failed states', hospitals serving illegals going bankrupt, schools struggling, police and fire dept.. time consumed by the same. In the meantime, we're still basically at 'just say no' and most of AZ countie's drug programs funds have been cut--but we continue to be #4 in the USA in prison spending! Go Arizona!

[tbirdalum]

Not that I really care, but why is A. Cooper the standard bearer for CNN on this story. I thought this was right up Lou Dobbs alley. Why isn't he carrying the torch. Just wondering.

[Lazslo]

there's a big market out their for zenophobia. Coop wants a piece of the action as his ratings are down.

[Cogs]

There are 1,000,000 heroin addicts in the U.S. We should focus our energy and resources on treatment.

[Pema]

I agree, treatment is key...We also could bear in mind that the stats have shown we have the same number of heroine addicts per capita as before the illegalization from ww1, its the demographics have shifted. Until we burn down the poppy fields kept alive by Bush we will never rid ourselves of heroine addiction. Bush kept the fields going as a way for afghanis to make money, horrible huh? If we would legalize pot we would free our jails and prisons and the court system, we would free up the needed resources for education and treatment for addictive drugs.

[Pema]

I live near the border. its hell for many people. i wont go into mexico, i am concenred over kidnappings. no one i know goes there any more. the mexican governemnt has been incredibly corrupt for decades and this is the result. the police corruption has blossomed this from guys growing weed to all out drug wars for meth and cocaine. when we chem'd all the pot down there we just made the trafficers go to different drugs. we need drug intervention in this country and that would help, but also these guys are kidnapping americans soley for ransom. DO NOT travel there....if you do stay in large groups dont dress nice, wear no jewerly....stay in town and dont drive the highways.

[Lazslo]

yeah, because the big bad drug cartels are hard up for cash and need people's clothes and jewelry to get by. Get real.

[LovingHope]

Thank you, Kae. That was very insightful. But I already know all that, I just wish everyone would understand that "The War on Drugs," is crazy. We need to get along with our neighbors.

[kae]

Life is too stressful lately, do yourself a favor and be sure to miss this CNN BS!

Read this..it's much better-

From the article -

"It seems unfair, if not criminal, to “punish” an entire society or unjustly “label” a country based on generalizations and fear-mongering triggered by isolated incidents of violence primarily due to the illegal drug trade which is playing out along the U.S., Mexico border towns. Certainly not all, but most of the violent crime due to the escalating drug violence in Mexico is Non-Random – and this is something that U.S. citizens must understand and research."

http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Regarding-Mexico-Biased-N-by-Jan-Baumgartner-090325-548.html

[Lazslo]

thank you. I get really tired of the constant media persecution of Latin and South Americans in this country.