And You Thought The Mexican Drug Cartels Were a Problem

Many times we have discussed the drug cartel situation in Mexico and the tremendous risk it holds for the United States. The demand for drugs is so high in this country that the sovereign government of Mexico is in danger of being overrun by the drug cartels who could turn the country into a lawless, drug cartel-run nation. Already we have seen countless acts of violence between the cartels and the government and between rival cartels. As the demand for illegal drugs has grown, the wealth and firepower of the cartels has kept pace.

However, according to a recent New York Times article, "Drug Trade, Violence Rock Central America," the problem is not contained within the Mexican borders. Findings from the article include the following:

• Of the known cocaine shipments moving north towards the United States, government crackdowns in Mexico, Columbia and the Caribbean have forced the cartels to now ship over 80% of their cocaine inventory through Central America.
• This 84% is almost double the amount that came through Central America just three years ago and almost four times the amount that came through the region in 2006.
• Five of the area's seven countries are now on the United States list of 20 countries that are major illicit drug transit or drug producing countries.
• Three of these countries, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras were just added within the past year.
• Many of the drug trafficking networks in the Central American countries are now run by the Mexican cartels who use local gangs to do the drug transportation work along with using extortion and kidnapping to accomplish their goals.
• The Honduran defense secretary recently compared the match up of the cartels against the Central American governments as a David vs. Goliath battle with the governments taking on the role of David.
• Honduran authorities recently busted a major cocaine production lab in that country, suggesting that the cartels were expanding their presence in that country from one of only transit to both transit and actual production.
• The Costa Rican minister of public security recently stated that unless the region gets immediate help, Central America could degenerate into a similar situation as Mexico where lawlessness, bribery, kidnappings, and murders are the norm.
• The Costa Rican drug czar recently stated that the Mexican cartels have so much money from their current operations that they are using those funds to buy up legitimate Central American businesses such as farms and transportation firms, all with the purpose of producing and transporting more cocaine.
• The United States Congress authorized $1.6 billion worth of law enforcement support funding in 2007, of which $258 million of that was for central America. So far, only $20 million of that had been spent.

Very scary stuff. Now, combine this information with a March 17, 2011 Associated Press report that recounted how the Bolivian authorities announced they had arrested a police colonel on suspicion of drug trafficking. This was the second major Bolivian official busted for cocaine trafficking in less than a month. The outrageous aspect of this second arrest is that the colonel was the Interpol chief until last December. Interpol is the international crime fighting organization. Thus, we are seeing the corruption of government officials due to the large amount of drug cartel wealth filtering down into Central and South America, similar to what has happened in Mexico.

The infestation continues to grow, down out of Mexico into Central America and into Bolivia in South America. All done in support of the illicit drug traffic into the United States. The business is so big that it could easily spiral out of control and topple the sovereign governments in more than just Mexico.

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C., Senate Majority leader Harry Reid is distressing over the fact that the Republicans want to cut some Federal funding that might wipe out the annual cowboy poetry contest in his home state. Four U.S. Senators are worried that some mobile phone apps might identify where police have set up DUI road blocks. President Obama has been preoccupied with televising his NCAA men's and women's championship basketball picks on ESPN. These trivial political efforts are not to be confused with the law passed last year that would allow the Federal government to regulate the sound volume on television commercials. Which should not be confused with the effort last year by some members of Congress to regulate the college football playoff system.

Pathetic set of priorities. Countries are about to be destabilized because of our domestic illicit drug demand and the current crop of politicians worry about basketball and football games, poetry contests, and who knows what else that has a minor, minor impact on our lives compared to the above drug networking situation. Is it not time to finally get some serious leadership and a new view of how to address and solve some of the many major issues facing this country? 

It is obvious that our political processes are broken, given what the processes produce for elected office. That is why several steps from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" are so important if we are to ever adequately address the lost war on drugs problem in this country:

1. Step 39 - this step would impose term limits on all Federal political offices. Many, many of our current set of politicians have been in office for a very long time. Despite their long tenure, they have not solved this issue or any other major issue. Thus, Step 39 is compatible with the old saying: "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."  Time to get some fresh faces and ideas in office, how much worse could they do compared to what we have now as it relates to the illegal drug issue?
2. Step 26 - this step would convene a panel or commission of smart Americans, sans politicians and lobbyists, and set them up to do a detailed, comprehensive analysis of the entire illicit drug situation. They would then develop a set of strategic alternatives to address what they identify as the root causes of our problem in this area. Part of their analysis would be to look at what other countries have done in this area, both successes and failures, and see what could be learned and implemented in this area. They would have no limits placed on their thinking and recommendations which could range from tighter borders to decriminalization to complete legalization or a combination of all three. The political class has not been able to do this type of planning and analysis, maybe some smart Americans could.
3. Step 29 - this step would also convene another panel or commission but they would address the related problem of illegal immigration. They to would do a ground up view of the problem and identify the root causes, developing a plan that interlinked with the panel from Step 26.

It is pretty clear that the current American political class cannot solve this problem. They have allowed the problem to get worse since the Nixon administration declared war on drugs in the late 1960s. We have gone from a criminal activity to a destabilizing of governments activity. At the same time we have not helped Americans who are addicted to illegal drugs but have probably wasted hundreds of billions of dollars in a vain attempt to fix the problem without understanding the problem.

And trust me, spending $20 million dollars on Central American law enforcement programs over a three year period is akin to just flushing the $20 million down the drain when compared to the billions of dollars the drug cartels can now bring to the issue. We have to seriously consider other approaches before the drug infestation, including the murdering, the violence, the bribing of public officials, the kidnappings, and the general breakdown in society moves north from Mexico and the new drug production and transportation centers in central America into our country. The poerty contests can wait. This issue cannot.



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