U.S. Politics Support Mexican Drug Violence

The United States is a major player in the continuing drug violence in Mexico.

Here are three ways the United States is contributing to the mess:

Let's start with the enormous market for hard drugs north of the border, $39 billion worth of sales. Not surprisingly, Mexican drug gangs fight hard for what they see as their share. As long as we provide so many users there for the taking, hardened drug runners will not turn their backs.

The second way is less well-known. We have a treaty with Mexico that permits subsidized food grown in the U.S. to enter our neighboring country without paying any tariff at the border. This competition from Northern products is said to have left over a million small Mexican farmers without a market for their corn (www.thehindu.com). So what do they do instead? They find employment in the drug trade (such as being part of the chain that moves cocaine from Colombia, Bolivia and Peru north) or grow illegal crops.

Then there is the matter of the assault weapons U.S. suppliers have been able to export to Mexican drug cartels since the U.S. changed its policy in 2004. Since that time, the Mexican authorities have seized a fearsome amount of firepower, enough to equip an army. Besides 50,000 AK47 and AR15 rifles, the Mexican enforcement people have seized 6,000 grenades, 10 million rounds of ammunition, and armour-piercing rifles. Along the 3,100-km U.S.-Mexican border, firearms are easily available. (same source as above)

Clearly, the traffic in hard drugs is a problem that crosses borders, one neither government is controlling. But let's stop thinking of it as a Mexican drug problem when it is a continental, North American drug problem on an enormous scale, brought about partly by laws passed in the United States Capitol.

How likely is it that U.S. policies will change? Unfortunately, the gun lobby and farmer's organizations wield a lot of clout on Capitol Hill.

But, as a first step at least our diplomats are acknowledging the significant part our country plays in escalating the violence, although the effect of our subsidized farm policy still gets little attention in the American press.(www.guardian.co.uk/.../mexico-hillary-clinton-drugs-weapons) The huge market north of the border for drugs is even more important.

Mexican professor Analicia Ruiz has said, "The reality is we have such a long border, you cannot think of this as a problem of Mexico and a problem of US," she says. "It is a problem for both countries." Yet drug trafficking is more than a border problem. It is a $39 billion dollar business with its tentacles deep inside the culture, society and economy of both Mexico and the United States.

Note on sources for details: The Hindu is an Indian newspaper with a circulation of 14 million. The Guardian is a British newspaper. Both have online editions.