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... ashington's priority of speeding up border crossings has led to a neglect of the already shrinking interdiction process. DEA agents feel powerless because their requests to mount special operations south of the border including attempts to gain information regarding Mexican politicians corruption by Mexican cartels- are denied due to the current administrations intent to avoid displeasure by the government in Mexico City. In late 1996, the Juarez Cartel, Mexico's most powerful drug trafficking organization, was revealed as the chief instigator in a bribing scandal involving Mexican drug czar General Jesus Gutierrez Rebeollo. The following spring, further corruption within the Mexican government serviced just days after President Clinton visited Mexico for the first time during his administration. This time, Mexican ruling-party stalwart Jorge Caprizo MacGregor was accused of leaking U.
S. Customs Intelligence reports and helping arrange a twenty ton shipment of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico aboard a tanker owned by a subcontractor of Mexico's state oil industry (Dettmer 10). On the subject of the U. S. governments naive attitude towards the corruption incited by the Juarez based cartel, one DEA agent remarked, We were sleepwalking then and still are. Now we have to try and compete with a cartel that has an annual income which rivals our entire federal anti-drug budget (McGraw 41).
Current U. S. Strategies Aimed at Combating Drug Trafficking In response to the actions of the Mexico based trafficking organizations and their surrogate gangs operating in the United States, the Federal Government has taken a number of steps to work with their law enforcement partners in Mexico, as well as with their state and local colleagues in the U. S. The DEA has joined forces with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a Southwest Border Initiative that targets the major Mexican trafficking organizations for enforcement actions.
For the first time, the DEA, the FBI, the Department of Justice Criminal Division (DOJ), and respective U. S. Attorneys in every state along the Southwest Border are coordinating both intelligence and manpower resources against the Mexican drug groups. Also, three new binational Border Task Forces have been established and will focus on the principle trafficking organizations. Senior personnel of the DEA, FBI, and DOJ Criminal Division serve on a U. S. -Mexican Plenary Group, working to enhance cooperation against narcotics and money laundering (Requesters 11).
Today, the DEA advocates two primary methods of reducing the supply of illicit drugs into the United States. These methods include crop eradication programs and interdiction of drugs at the U. S. border. Crop eradication - adopted in 1993 is a program in which the U. S.
government and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) pressures source countries to eliminate their illicit crops by spraying pesticides, slashing illegal plants, or burning peasants' fields. Unfortunately, this method appears to have had little effect on the spread of such crops (GAO 3). Merely examine the U. S. State Department's estimates - which span over a nine-year period from January of 1988 to December of 1996 - regarding the amount of area used for growing coca plants, the chief substance used in making cocaine. The total area of these plants cultivated increased from 175, 210 hectares to 214, 800 globally, with the majority of these plants originating in South and Central America.
Equally as stunning are the estimates from the State Department regarding net production of all illicit drugs over this same period of time. Coca leaf production increased from 291, 100 metric tons to 309, 400 metric tons, and poppy plant production grew from 2, 242 metric tons to 4, 157 metric tons (Handbook 2). Despite U. S. attempts at controlling the amount of illegal crops produced in Latin American countries, the previous figures show that peasant farmers still view illegal drug cultivation as advantageous due to the profits it brings. In August of 1996, near the town of Putumayo, Colombia, coca farmers revolted against their own government's attempts to eradicate their crops by blocking muddy roads and airstrips in which eradication aircraft was to take off.
Nearly 30, 000 peasant farmers showed support by opposing Colombian action directly influenced by the United States' international drug certification program and the penalties that can result for countries in non-compliance (Economist 35). Addressing the Question of Certification The drug certification program, implemented by the Reagan Administration, is a method in which the United States government measures other country's cooperation regarding U. S. drug policy. Every March, the President releases a list of countries that he and his advisors feel are reliable allies in the battle against illicit drugs. These countries are certified.
The countries excluded from the list are de certified and have mandatory penalties imposed on them including 50 percent cutbacks in economic aid and some trade benefits. Discretionary sanctions may include the end of preferential tariff treatment, limits on air traffic between the U. S. and the de certified country, and increased duties on the country's exports to the United States (Hakim 16). In recent years, controversy has resulted due to the United States annual re-certification of Mexico. Colombia, which has been de certified for four consecutive years, argues that within Mexico's government lie the same problems that cause Colombia to remain de certified.
Colombia might have a valid argument. In 1997, only weeks before the certification deadline, Mexico's (then) top anti-drug leader was linked to bribery stemming from drug cartels. However, this did not effect the United States opinion of Mexican drug policy, as the country was re-certified weeks later (Economist 39). Many political analysts have begun referring to the insurgence of bribery in Mexican government as the Colombianization of Mexico, pointing to the corruption that surrounds the operation.
In addition, it is now widely assumed that Mexican trafficking is more vigorous than that of its southern drug-producing counterpart. Unlike Colombia, however, Washington granted Mexico full certification in March of 1999 despite evidence of narco corruption throughout the Mexican government (Economist 39). The inconsistency of the U. S. drug policy would probably become too conspicuous were Washington to threaten sanctions against a partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Also, if Mexico experienced the level of social violence seen in Colombia, for instance, the United States would be directly affected. This development would certainly provoke Washingtons increased involvement in Mexico's domestic affairs (Boaz 102). The United States needs to formulate a concrete method for determining criteria that will establish countries as certified or de certified. Two fundamental changes are needed. First, new legislation should abandon the use of thumbs up or thumbs down analysis in determining certification of a country. Instead, analysis should focus on getting a careful, multidimensional analysis of the drug problems facing different nations.
Second, the U. S. should not keep the counter narcotics view to itself; it should work with other countries in a forum similar to that of the United Nations (UN) of Organization of American States (OAS). These initiatives would easily strengthen hemispheric anti-drug cooperation by replacing the current process with high-quality reporting done on a multilateral basis (Hakim 16). In recent years, as the political and economic ties between the United States and Mexico have strengthened, a new generation of traffickers has been able to grasp a large share of the hemispheric drug trade. These Mexican cartels have repeatedly effected the governments on both sides of the border growing from low-level smuggling groups to sophisticated organizations that smuggle more and more drugs of every kind into the U.
S. The President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo, has publicly stated that drug trafficking is a threat to Mexican national security, not only because of the crime inherent with such activity, but also because of the growing wealth that enables traffickers the ability to corrupt police and government officials. The United States must strive to include other countries in the process of creating new policies regarding drug trafficking. The final development of these new policies will require a substantial commitment of time and resources to achieve the necessary level of success. It is imperative that the U.
S. work with their partners in Mexico to blunt the influence the drug traffickers are having in both countries. Bibliography: Works Cited Blair, James. Mexico's Growing Drug Cartels Seep Across U. S. Border.
Christian Science Monitor 89, 205. 17 Sept 97: 3. Boaz, David, ed. The Crisis in Drug Prohibition. Washington: Cato Institute, 1990. Carpenter, Ted Galen. Declaring An Armistice In the International Drug War.
CATO Institute Foreign Policy Briefing 26. 26 July 93. [ web Coca Clashes. The Economist 340, 7979. 17 Aug 96: 35. Constantine, Thomas A. International Drug Trafficking Organizations in Mexico. DEA Congressional testimony. 8 August 95. Del Old, Rosa.
The Geopolitics of Narcotrafficking in Latin America. Social Justice 20. Fall-Winter 93: 1 - 23. Dettmer, Jamie. The New Mexican Mafia. Insight on the News 13, 34. 15 Sept 97: 7 - 12.
Drug Control Counter narcotic Efforts in Mexico. Congressional Report to Requesters. 12 June 96: 1 - 17. [ web Drugs, Latin America, and the United States. The Economist 346, 8054. 07 Feb 98: 38 - 40. Hakim, Peter. U.
S. Drug Certification Process Is In Serious Need of Reform. Christian Science Monitor 89, 84. 27 March 97: 15 - 16. McGraw, Dan.
The American Connection. U. S. News & World Report 122, 7. 24 Feb 97: 40 - 43. McGraw, Dan. The Iowan Connection: Powerful Mexican Drug Cartels Have Hit Rural America.
U. S. News & World Report 124, 8. 2 March 98: 33 - 36. Rethinking the International Drug War. CATO Handbook to 105 th Congress. [ web Salgado, Enrique. Paternalism and the Narcotics Industry.
American Behavioral Scientist 40, 7. June- July 97: 944 - 950. U. S. , Mexico, and Drugs. Christian Science Monitor 90, 212. 25 Sept 98: 16.
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Research essay sample on Drug Trafficking Between Us And South America
