The Good Old Days Of Peace And Corruption

Mexico is hurting. The war on the northern border is devastating the country.

Five thousand, three hundred, and seventy-six people have been killed in Mexico's drug war so far this year, double the number from last year and more than all the US troops killed in Iraq.

Is this what victory looks like?

That's the question Mexico is grappling with two years after President Felipe Calderón took office announcing a massive military effort to dismantle drug trafficking organizations.

Thursday marks two years since Mr. Calderón announced "Operation Michoacán," the first of a sustained series of high-profile deployments of soldiers across the country.

Since then, federal authorities have disarmed scores of police departments, boasted of bundles of cash and caches of weapons confiscated, and heralded arrests of some of the highest-profile traffickers as proof of success.

But the effort's first year, 2007, also turned out to be the nation's deadliest in modern history; and the death toll for 2008 has, as of Dec. 2, far exceeded that, spiking by 117 percent, according to Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora. Authorities at the highest ranks have been arrested for colluding with traffickers, and a strategy that has been a political boon could turn into a liability for Calderón in next year's mid-term elections.

I guess the Drug War is not popular in Mexico. Too much shooting. We are made of stronger stuff here in America. We just ignore it.

Today's staggering violence, they say, is the result of Calderón's get-tough approach, which has caused drug trafficking groups to collapse and splinter.

That is real good in the short term. However, what happens is those splintered groups will form the nucleus of new groups that will form. Multiplying the problem. Instead of vertical integration you get a distributed system.

And how is this affecting the Americans? It seems it is creating a few problems.

The US, which released a report earlier this year saying that Mexican drug organizations have infiltrated every region of the US and nearly 200 cities...

That is just swell. There are already reports of murders and kidnappings by these imported gangs. You can never have too many criminals. Fortunately when we are short we can import them from Mexico. Laborers, criminals, drugs, and oil. When there are not enough in America we can import them. Such a deal.

Elections are coming in Mexico. And what is the mood of the population?

Polls indicate that the Institutional Revolutionary Party – which ruled the country for 71 years during a time when corruption, and trafficking, was more tolerated – is favored.

The reasons are diverse, but analysts say that violence could be one factor for weary Mexicans who long for the "good old days" of "peace and corruption," says Chabat.

You know, if they want more corruption I think we have the possibility of a counter trade. We could export politicians from Chicago and DC.

Or we could make drugs legal and put an end to the charade. And the murders.

Cross Posted at Classical Values