The ultra-violence in Mexico is fueled by the American War on Drugs
Part I: Like something out of a movie
A couple nights ago I watched "No Country for Old Men". It's an outstanding film and a tale of a man who happens upon the [gnarly] aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong in a nowhere area of Texas desert. It's set in the 1980s, but the issue remains the same: there are dead bodies everywhere.
A man dying in one truck, another truck with a tarp covering the bed is hiding LOTS of marijuana bricks, worth God knows how much due to the wide variation in quality.
He then follows a blood trail to find one more dead man sitting under a tree with the proverbial satchel full of $100 bills.
Of course there are people who want that money and the chase it on.
These are portrayed as particularly bad people. One man - I shan't spoil the film - is hi-quality bad mofo and a central character. He ain'ts to be messed with.
There is a scene somewhere in the latter part of the film where a man is driving and all of a sudden one hears automatic weapons and a truck burst forth with people in the back, guns blazing... more dead and dying people, automatic weapons, shell casings - all over the place.
Like something out of a movie....
Murder victims found hanging from Mexico overpass
Wed Dec 30, 2:23 pm ET
CULIACAN, Mexico – The bound, beaten bodies of 2 men were found hanging by their necks from a highway overpass in northern Mexico on Wednesday, along with a handwritten message from a drug cartel.
The men's hands were tied behind their backs, and shell casings at the scene in Los Mochis suggest the killers fired at the victims as they were hanging by their necks, said Sinaloa state prosecutors' spokesman Martin Gastelum. The cause of death was still under investigation, however.
Hung by their necks, off a bridge and then fired at.
Like something from a movie.
Except that's a weekly reality in Mexico, in the areas that harbor the Drug Cartels.
Recently one Cartel Leader was killed and there appears to be a 'turf war" breaking out or intensifying.
From the first link
Nearby, a message written on a piece of cardboard said in part, "this territory already has an owner." The message appeared to be from the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, whose main leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva, was shot to death in a confrontation with Mexican marines on Dec. 16.
The message suggests his death may have unleashed a turf battle for control of areas controlled by his gang.
This is not rocket surgery.
The Cartels are about making lots of money, and controlling the means to keep making that money. They make so much money they are very powerful - powerful enough to present a formidable challenge to the Mexican Army.
The current state of things in Mexico is a crystal-clear example of the Iron Law of Prohibition - the more you enforce prohibition laws, the worse the black market gets.
The cartels, contrary to what I used to think, make over half their profits from marijuana smuggling. Sure a bunch is grown here in out National Forests, but the money goes back to Mexico because it's a Cartel operation.
This is a clear example of how prohibition nurtures the worst sort of people and activities: aside from the ubiquitous shootouts, gangs raid hospitals to kill those they only wounded and in the border town Cuidad-Juarez, at least 2500 people have been killed.
One city.
I moved to Atlanta from a town of 2200.
It's like something out of a movie.
Part II: It's the Profits, stupid
Again, the cartels make most of their profit from smuggling marijuana into America. Regulating marijuana here would take a massive bite out of those profits.
Growing numbers of Mexican and U.S. officials say—at least privately—that the biggest step in hurting the business operations of Mexican cartels would be simply to legalize their main product: marijuana. Long the world's most popular illegal drug, marijuana accounts for more than half the revenues of Mexican cartels.
"Economically, there is no argument or solution other than legalization, at least of marijuana," said the top Mexican official matter-of-factly. The official said such a move would likely shift marijuana production entirely to places like California, where the drug can be grown more efficiently and closer to consumers. "Mexico's objective should be to make the U.S. self-sufficient in marijuana," he added with a grin.
Everybody's a comedian.
We'd be self-sufficient in 90 days, if we aren't already.
I digress.
There is no other solution to such violence. It's not caused by "drugs" themselves, and definitely not by "marijuana". It's the profits to be had in smuggling the illegal substance into the areas in which prohibition is enforced. Like America.
The profits from marijuana smuggling/trafficking are a bit more than half their income.
Advocates for drug legalization say making marijuana legal would cut the economic clout of Mexican cartels by half. Marijuana accounts for anywhere between 50% to 65% of Mexican cartel revenues, say Mexican and U.S. officials. While cocaine has higher profit margins, marijuana is a steady source of income that allows cartels to meet payroll and fund other activities.
Marijuana is also less risky to a drug gang's balance sheet. If a cocaine shipment is seized, the Mexican gang has to write off the expected profits from the shipment and the cost of paying Colombian suppliers, meaning they lose twice. But because gangs here grow their own marijuana, it's easier to absorb the losses from a seizure. Cartels also own the land where the marijuana is grown, meaning they can cheaply grow more supply rather than have to fork over more money to the Colombians for the next shipment of cocaine.
The ability of Americans to buy their herb at the local convenience store or other licensed outlet would KILL the Cartel's profits.
It's profit they live for.
And that people die for.
This is your war on drugs.