Mexico

Mexico’s political history has been one of ever changing governments and monumental power shifts since achieving its independence from Spain in the early 19th century. However while the country’s economic status and human rights have suffered in a culture of shifting powers and assassinations it has been the perfect transshipment point for narcotics, undocumented immigrants, and firearms to the Americas. In a more contemporary context the traffic of illicit substances has steadily been gaining notoriety since the 1980’s when Columbian Cocaine traffic began to be routed through Mexico en route to the United States.

At first the cocaine trade was monopolized by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo “The Godfather” who made the decision to divide the trade he controlled in order to make it more difficult to bring down in one swoop by law enforcement. After his arrest in 1989 fighting between the drug cartels really began in earnest. Today the balance of power between the various Mexican cartels shifts as new ones emerge and older ones weaken and collapse. While many factors have contributed to the rise in violence Security experts trace the origin to the end long standing implicit agreements between the cartels and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) the political party that held power in Mexico for over 70 years. The first major move against the cartels was made on December 11, 2006, when newly elected President Felipe Calderón sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of Michoacán to end drug violence there. Over the next year the number of Casualties in the Mexican Drug war doubled to over 5000 and has continued to rise culminating in over 11,000 in 2010. The conflict continues today despite the best efforts of both the United States and Mexico’s governments, and to date has claimed an estimated 36,226 lives since it officially began in 2006.