Mexico's Drug War: Defined by Corruption

The following publication is rife with manipulation and corruption of Mexico's highest regarded political positions and jurisdictions. Former Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado officially declared drug trafficking a national security threat in early 1988. The United Nations estimate that 70% of the drugs flowing into the United States comes directly from Mexican drug trafficking cartels. Mexican cartels rely heavily on bribes and corruption as a means to infiltrate the Mexican political system. To the Mexican cartels, bribes and corruption is viewed as nothing more than, "the cost of doing business". A study by the National Autonomous University in Mexico City found that cocaine traffickers spend as much as 500 million a year on bribery. This calculates to almost $1,000 dollars in payoffs for each Kilo of smuggled cocaine. Mexico's efforts of eradicating its deadly but lucrative drug industry have been severely bound by the rampant manipulation and corruption of the Mexican political system. A high level of corruption in Mexico remains as one of the most significant obstacles from eradicating the illicit drug trade operations and bringing a resolve to the ongoing drug war. As long as corruption continues to dominate the Municipal and Judicial systems of Mexico, it will remain a "failed state". And Mexico's search of achieving a prosperous and stable democracy will continue to elude them. As drug trafficking in Mexico expanded, so too did the Mexican drug enforcement. Mexico tripled its anti-drug budget between 1987 and 1989, and tripled it once again in the 1990s (Andreas 1998). The increasing presence of Mexico's drug enforcement has lead to higher

drug related arrests and more frequent large-scaled drug seizures. Mexico's increasing numbers of drug enforcement officers has also increased the regularity of Mexican cartels bribery solicitations as Ginaluca Florentini and Sam Peltzman suggest in their 1995 book The Economics of Organized Crime, "the more [it creates] incentives to invest in corruption and manipulation of the deterrence agencies themselves." This basically implies as Mexican cartels are faced with stronger resistance (which has failed), it has actually only increased the capacity (cash flow) of cartels to "tax" or bribe Mexican officials. The increasing arrest numbers, referring back to earlier, are by most accounts nothing more than political rhetoric allowing Mexico to maintain a healthy relationship with the United States. Behind the inflated and sometimes fabricated numbers, in reality, the Mexican drug trade along with widespread corruption is thriving in the midst of Mexico's heightened drug control efforts. To me, this is a clear indication of a failed attempt on the part of Mexican police forces to adequately indentify and apprehend the major drug trafficking leaders but rather settling for higher arrest statistics and a healthy relationship with the United States. The organization of police forces in Mexico is complex; each police force has a different level of jurisdiction and authority, and those levels often overlap (Library of Congress 2003). The Mexican drug cartels rely heavily on infiltrating and corrupting the local level officials, allowing their illegal products to travel safely through Mexico and eventually into the United States drug market. Local officials are easily targeted because their pay is typically poor (US $285-400 month), and are more likely to accept bribes to protect the cartels illicit interests. Mexican Law enforcement personnel are often presented with a choice from the Mexican cartels, "Plata o Plomo"; meaning they can either accept a bribe (plata meaning silver) or they will be

killed (plomo meaning lead). The cartels well-paid bribes and limited options have instigated fierce competition within law enforcement agencies across Mexico. Violent conflicts often erupt between the police operating as law enforcers and police operating as lawbreakers (Andreas 1998). It has been well documented that corruption goes beyond that of the state level, reaching its way in to some of the highest regarded Mexican regulatory agencies. The changes in key government leadership positions have had significant implications on Mexico's drug trade business (Lupsha 1995). Take the example of one of Mexico's leading drug traffickers, Juan Garcia Abrego who is widely known as the inventor of Mexican drug trafficking. Abrego's drug smuggling operations flourished under former President Salina's administration. When former President Zedillo entered office in December of 1994, Abrego lost the high-level protection provided under the former President Salina. Without this level of protection, Abregos influence in the drug trade industry decreased dramatically to the point of bankruptcy, in a traditional business sense. During this transformation, other well-connected cartels gained uncontested access to large drug trafficking corridors once controlled by Abrego. Despite Abregos deteriorating drug influence in Mexico, President Zedillo put a large bounty on him, making Abrego the most wanted drug smuggler in Mexico. Nevertheless, Abrego's eventual capture was highly celebrated by the United States as a sign of Mexico's increasing efforts and dedication to the elimination of illicit drug smuggling operations. In my opinion the example of Abrego's lost influence and highly celebrated capture directly relates to the politic rhetoric and corruption that is associated with Mexico's relationship with the United States. Although Abrego's drug lord

status was greatly diminished at the time of his capture, it would ultimately reveal some of the largest drug related corruption scandals in Mexico's history. Upon Abrego's arrest by Mexican officials who at the time were cooperating with the United States government discovered a black book detailing Abrego's corrupted contacts. Abrego's book contained, among others, a $1 million USD bribe to the head of the Federal Judicial Police (FJP), a $500,000 USD bribe to the force operations chief, and a $1000,000 bribe to the federal police commander of the Gulf Cartels base of operation. According to the U.S DEA, Garcia Abrego had infiltrated 95% of the Mexicans Attorney Generals Office. It was also later proven that the commander in the Procurduria General de la Republica (the federal attorney-generals office), Lopez Parra, was receiving $1.5 million USD per month from Abrego. Institutionalized corruption within the Mexican law enforcement has been met with a greater push for military control over the Mexican cartels corruptive behaviors. The larger military presence was issued by Mexican officials under former Mexican President Zedillo and with pressure from the United States government. As the Mexican armed forces gained a larger role in drug enforcement, so did the bribes from within these forces. The most notorious case of military corruption was caught on videotape by a U.S customs surveillance flight. Ten federal judicial police agents attempted to breakup a drug smuggling operation that included 800 lbs of cocaine from the state of Veracruz. The bust was interrupted when members of the Mexican army ambushed and opened fire on the agents, killing seven of them. This incident, reported by the United States office of National Drug Control Policy, resulted in the investigation of 34 senior military officers, which were targeted for disciplinary actions related to corruption.

Corruption does not only exist in the lower level military ranks. The case of Gutierrez Rebollo reveals the Mexican cartels corruption tactics penetrating the highest-level of Mexican military officials. A detailed examination of the Mexican militarys own investigation, exceeding 1,100 pages, makes it abundantly clear of Rebollos interactions with Mexican cartels. Investigation details Gutierrez Rebollo, the Mexican militarys general and regional commander, interacting with well-known Mexican drug cartel leaders (Lupsha 1995). Another major example of the Mexican armed forces being penetrated by a drug-related corruption occurred in Sinaloa, MX, when the entire 65th Infantry Battalion was arrested on corruption related charges. News reports later indicated that only a small number were found guilty (Library of Congress 2003). It is common in Mexico for corrupt officials and drug suspects to be arrested and later have their cases fall apart. U.S and Mexican experts say, "it as at the core of organized crime in Mexico -- a powerful nexus between corrupt politicians, crooked cops and millionaire criminals"(Booth 2010). According to the Secretariat of National Defense, as of July 24, 2009, there were 549 members of the military serving prison time. Even more disturbing is the remarks made by General Galvan, Secretary of national Defense, where he states that as many as 15,000 individuals detained in the drug war had received some form of military training. More specifically, there were two generals, four Lt. Cols, and five majors. In a poll published by Parametria in early 2007, most Mexicans, 65 percent, thought the army would be corrupted by Mexican cartels in performing anti-drug tasks.

The word corrupt comes from the Latin word corrupts which means to destroy. In today's modern English the word corrupt or corruption can assume several meanings according to Webster's dictionary. Political corruption is the abuse of public power or government resources for personal gain. Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct dedicated towards financial benefits and other personal gain in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursing an investigation. The widespread corruption that has entangled itself in the numerous facets of Mexico's Municipal and Judicial systems is undeniable. Mexico's drug war consumed by corruption has been embattled with the most ugly forms of deceit and the most improbable acts destruction. I would like to assume there is no single, easily ascertainable solution or compromise to Mexico's drug war. The drug war which has seen corrupt officials and drug traffickers alike fill their greedy pockets with green paper while leaving the ravished Mexican streets lined with bodies blood stained cobblestone. I do however strongly believe that by eliminating the corruptive behavior of the drug trafficking cartels would alleviate enough tension enabling Mexico to slowly recover as a legitimate democracy. I also believe that in order to eliminate corruption grave steps must be taken to reduce the drug cartels powerful influence by eliminating the cartels themselves. Mexico must fight the drug cartels and fight them relentlessly. Armand Pseschard-Sverdrup, a Mexican expert at the Center for Strategic and International studies in Washington says, "But you cannot reverse a culture of impunity overnight, or even in a sexenio. It is going to take time, money, and unfortunately lives to see Mexico stabilize".

Mexico has seen a recent resurgence in the drug enforcement efforts under current President Felipe Calderon. Calderon has revamped security, putting federal forces under a unified command, and is working to retrain the notoriously corrupt cops who have plagued Mexico's past. Calderon said, "corruption hurts Mexicans by undermining the country's competiveness and eroding confidence in government institutions". Calderon's campaign against the drug war has contained set backs just as his predecessors did. Most recently, 30 local mayors and politicians were arrested on corruption charges (Booth 2010). As of now, the defining factor separating Calderon from Mexico's former presidents failures is his disconnect with the drug cartels themselves. If President Calderon can himself elude the relentless wrath of the drug cartels corruption schemes then Mexico has a fighting chance to rid itself of a corruptive past. And to one day hopefully attain a purified and corruption free democracy.