Mexican Drug Traffickers - A Byproduct Of Lax Border Security

Drug Traffickers, Terrorists and Human Smugglers Find US Borders Porous.

(PRWEB) December 25, 2004 -- In the United States-Mexico experience, there are relevant lessons for countries engaged in cooperative counternarcotics efforts. The primary lesson learned is that the illegal drug market has metastasized at the cost of thousands of lost lives and billions of dollars. A second lesson is that bilateral and multilateral efforts are key in the crusade against drugs.

The costs that the illegal drug trade imposes on the United States have been estimated at a staggering $70 billion each year. Mexican drug traffickers are the primary transporters of the major narcotics imported into the US The 2,000 mile shared border between Mexico and the US is the entry point for a large percentage of these drugs. During FY 2000, 89 million automobiles, 4.5 million trucks, and 293 million people entered the US from Mexico. Each of these modes of transportation have been used by drug traffickers to ship their goods across the border. For example, a tractor-trailer transporting legitimate cargo may also contain hidden bales of marijuana; a legal immigrant might carry concealed parcels of heroin through a border checkpoint; or a passenger car may contain bags of cocaine in a tire or other secret compartments. In addition, traffickers have smuggled drugs into the US on aircraft, high-speed "go-fast" boats, and cargo ships. Whatever the method, traffickers have employed numerous and diverse methods to avoid detection of transported drugs.

Mexican traffickers have been successful in their efforts. Joseph Keefe of the Drug Enforcement Administration, one of the principal drug enforcement agencies in the US, reported that approximately half of the cocaine available in the US enters the country along the US-Mexico border. Keefe also noted that the majority of marijuana and a significant portion of heroin consumed in the US emanates from Mexico. Additionally, he indicated that Mexican drug organizations have established methamphetamine laboratories that have been estimated to produce 85 percent of the methamphetamine available in the US Overall, Mexican drug traffickers have become a significant supply source for most of the major drugs consumed in the United States.

In the past, drug organizations in Mexico were predominately involved in cultivating marijuana and opium -- a precursor to heroin and other opiates. Over the past decade, however, Mexican drug organizations secured a prominent position in the cocaine market that was formerly dominated by Colombian drug cartels, and opened the doors for Mexican groups to dominate the drug trafficking market. In the late 1980s, Mexican traffickers were middlemen for the Colombian cartels. Traffickers would receive shipments of cocaine in northern Mexico, smuggle the drugs across the border, and leave stashes in specified locations where Colombian distributors would retrieve the cocaine and transport it to destinations across the US In 1989, traffickers who were annoyed at delinquent service payments from Colombian suppliers retained shipments of cocaine in extortion until payments were made.

The shifting role of Mexican drug trafficking groups in the US from subcontracted transporters of cocaine to urban-based distributors occurred somewhat rapidly in the early 1990s. Prior to this transformation, the distribution of drugs in the US resembled a cottage industry, with loosely organized "mom and pop" distribution franchises in urban enclaves with large Mexican populations from Los Angeles to Chicago. When the Colombian cartels were toppled after significant law enforcement efforts in 1995 and 1996, the void was soon filled by Mexican traffickers who were eager to capitalize on the potential drug profits. Within a few short years, Mexican traffickers emerged as the primary couriers of cocaine for the robust US drug market.

Additionally, Mexican drug organizations have infiltrated the expanding methamphetamine market. A DEA report noted that narcotics groups from Mexico now dominate this market in the US, which formerly was run exclusively by American based gangs and illicit trafficking groups. Methamphetamine, unlike other drugs distributed by Mexican traffickers, is produced in simple laboratories with readily-available precursor chemicals. Mexican drug organizations, the DEA report continues, have established labs throughout Mexico and California, in addition to super-labs that are able to produce hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine in a week. Furthermore, the report revealed, "it is now not uncommon to find hundreds of major methamphetamine traffickers from Mexico . . . established in Boise, Des Moines, and Omaha, and other cities in America's heartland, where there has been an explosion of methamphetamine use."

Mexican traffickers carry out their craft with proven ability and professionalism. The most prominent trafficking organizations control the drug trade across broad tracts of northern Mexico surrounding Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, and along the northeastern Gulf. These Mexico-based trafficking groups include the Juarez cartel, the Arellano-Felix Brothers organization, the Caro-Quintero organization, and the Amezcua-Contreras organization. A major trafficking group might contain 200 or more members in the Mexico base, with hundreds of additional members throughout the organization's network. Although these groups operate independently, they have created a loose partnership called the Federation, in order to establish a greater degree of security and profitability. A recent estimate suggests the annual income accrued by these organizations is in the tens of billions of dollars. In comparison, the entire country of Mexico had an estimated nominal GDP of $557 billion last year.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores.

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