Closest Alligator to the Boat: Mexico's Drug-Fueled Violence

摘要

Mexico's drug-fueled and undeclared war is spiraling out of control, and has a real and growing ability to threaten the Mexican government and affect the American southwest. There have been many Americans killed as a result of this heated conflict, yet the policies that should protect American interests are not doing enough to either minimize the effects of this war on the United States or stop the fight altogether. The drug cartels involved are starting to resemble a paramilitary insurgency, using beheadings, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) and Special Forces type raids. The Mexican government seems underequipped to do anything about this fight and it routinely gives the appearance that it is out gunned and out maneuvered. These new tactics, coupled with the cartels' transnational ties to the Columbian FARC, Venezuela, and other U.S. adversaries, pose a credible and strategic threat to the United States. The latest developments in this fight, along with convincing intelligence that our enemies have the ability to open an irregular warfare front on our southern border, demand the United States' full attention in changing the war to our south.