Causes of High Levels of Violence in Contemporary Mexico - Essay Example

Causes of High Levels of Violence in Contemporary Mexico Introduction Latin America has for decades been known to be the most dangerous place on earth. In fact, a survey by the World Bank would reveal that while all other regions in the world became safer or stayed the same, Latin America only became worse. The Mexican city of Acapulco is ranked third in terms of number of murders with a startling 113 murders out of every 100,000 in the population. The overall homicide rate in Mexico is about 22 out of 100,000. The country is however not as dangerous as its neighbours. It is however so dangerous that the U.S Department of State sent out advisories to people from the U.S travelling to Mexico owing to the high rates of kidnappings, carjacking as well as other violent crimes. This then brings out the question as to what the violence in contemporary Mexico can be accredited to. There are many reason and/or factors attributing to violence in Mexico. They however revolve around drug trade, corruption and inequity vis-à-vis resources. This paper will discuss some aspects that contribute to the violence in contemporary Mexico. It will offer insight on the causes and what instigates them. Discussion The first reason in discussion is one of the major causes of violence; narcotics. Ever since the presidential election of 2006, the Mexican president declared war on the country’s drug cartels. The drug trade in Mexico began in the 1960s when marijuana was the main trade. In the 1980s, Mexico became a major player in the cocaine trade. (Beittel 2013). President Calderon’s strategy to defeat the cartels involved deploying more than 40,000 soldiers across the country. The cartels would then respond to this attack by the government by fighting back. The level of violence exploded. From when President Calderon was elected in 2006 to when he left office in 2012, the homicide rate in the country would triple with 75 per cent of the deaths being related to the drug war. The attacks by the government were aimed at the drug kingpins so as to leave leadership vacuums. This triggered very fierce internecine conflicts. The drug war of 2006-2012 was however not the end of drug related deaths. (Beittel, 2013). Drug cartels continue to fight against themselves and against the government but the resulting deaths are much more than the 60,000 that occurred during President Calderon’s reign. This kind of violence was caused by politics. See after President Calderon won the election in 2006, the opposition began to make claims that the election was rigged. Calderon therefore began fighting the cartels so as to muzzle the claims of the opposition. The fight was therefore not a good fight but one meant to keep a possible corrupt man in power. The fight was also lost. The cartels may have been broken but the drug trade in Mexico is anything but dead. Corruption is also a major cause of violence in Mexico. See law enforcement officials are for a long time been given one of two choices by the drug cartels. “Plata” or “Plomo.” Translated, this means silver or lead. Meaning they con either take a bribe or a bullet. The choice is not very difficult owing to the low police salaries in Mexico. This was the order of the day in the 1980s during the reign of the Partido Revolicionairo Institucional. (The institutional revolutionary party; PRI). This party had a high propensity to take bribes. The drug cartels would bribe high ranking law enforcement officials who would in turn let them continue with their operations. (Grillo, I., 2011). This arrangement seemed to be mutually beneficial. At the time, violence was at a low as the cartels believed that violence was bad for business. However, in the late 80s, opposition began to in politics. Soon the one party system began to break down. Drug lords had to give out more bribes to ensure continuity of business. Drug organizations began to fight over the remaining PRI territory. (Helwig, D., 2013). Corrupt officers were weeded out of the government and wen to seek refuge with the cartels. Morris 1999 explains that “increased enforcement then heightened the degree of violence.” The availability of firearms is also a big contributor to the high level of violence in Mexico. The U.S is known to be by far the biggest manufacturer of arms in the world. It is also the most active in arms trade internationally. It is therefore not surprising that Latin American countries that are within proximity of the U.S re a free market. This is regardless of the fact that their laws prohibit weapons. A trace on weapons proved that 9 out of every 10 arms in Mexico was bought from the U.S. In 1994, President Bill Clinton would sign into law the Law Enforcement and the Violent Crime Control Acts. The laws were made with a sunset clause of 10years. The ban therefore expired in 2004. In California however, the ban remained on a state level. Researchers Dube, Dube and Garcia-Ponce would perform an experiment to see the number of weapons in the adjacent part of Mexico compared to those adjacent to parts of the U.S where the ban had expired like Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. The researchers found that the lifting of the ban led to an increase in homicides in the adjacent parts of Mexico by up to 60 percent. Mexico would suffer over 239 more deaths in areas adjacent to non-California boarder zones. (Camp 2011). The U.S is therefore to blame for the excessive use of force in Mexico as it produces the arms that are used for violence. In Mexico, there exists agave disregard and lack of respect for the law. Mexicans have little faith in the ability of the justice system to be fair and honest. Research showed that more than half of the population of Mexico had little to no confidence in the justice system. A survey by the New Mexico State University showed that the main cause of violence in Mexico is the defective judicial system in the country. Law breakers always thought that their probability of being caught was very low. They operated with near abandon. Only about one of four crimes in the country is reported to law enforcement with only 7 per cent of the reported cases getting to court. (Kenny et al 2012.) In the off chance that the perpetrator of a violent crime is convicted, escape from a federal correctional facility is relatively simple. Because of this, for anyone prospecting to commit a violent crime, the decision is simple. They do it as the chances of getting caught are low. In Mexico, crime pays. Incompetence police corruption, lack of funding, understaffing, and poor training are among the contributors of this. (Blake et al 2010). Without fear for the law or any repercations often gotten from breaking the law, no statecan function effectively. This is why Mexico needs to reinforce its law enforcement as well as judiciary system so its citizens can take the law seriously. Demography has also been seen to play a role in the high violence rate in Mexico. Throughout history, the perpetrators of crimes, mostly violent crimes are young males. In Latin America, specifically in Mexico, violent crimes happen in areas the highest population of young males; Barbarians as they have come to be known. However, some social institutions have been seen to reduce the number of barbarians. For example; married men are seen to commit five times less crimes as compared to single men. Church going men are also seen to commit less crimes. When violent crimes occur in Mexico, it is often a barbarian against another. Poverty and unemployment have been seen to be the major contributor to why barbarians result to committing crimes. Such institutions are needless to say not abundant and/or popular in Mexico. For example not many people who begin to live a life of crime at a young age are able to marry or even go to church. Research has shown a decrease in crime with an increase or improvement in the job market. Inequality has been seen to weigh more than poverty in the making of barbarians. Latin America has been seen to have the biggest inequality in terms of income compared to all other countries. A big number of young people living in poverty, see dangled before them all the luxuries they desire in life. They therefore result to crime to acquire what society has taught them to want. (Camp 2011). For there to be better living standards in Mexico, many economic and political issues have to e sorted out. It is therefore up to the Mexican governrment to deal with these issues therefore creating emploment opportunities and in turn deal with reducing violence in Mexico. Since the commencement of 2013, self-defence groups in Mexico began to emerge. This is especially the case in Veracruz, Jalisco, Michoacán and Chihuahua. This may also be as a result of the war against drugs. After the drug cartels split up, there were many smaller gangs that were too small to get into the lucrative drug trade. They therefore resulted to smaller less profitable but equally violent crimes such as kidnapping and carjacking. After President Calderon came into power, crimes such as bank robberies came up by 90 percent and extortion cases doubled. The self-defence groups however do not take on the drug cartels. They instead focus on smaller gangs that are involved in kidnapping, carjacking and the likes. They only go after cartels when cartel members begin to commit violent crimes against the community. The advantage of these groups however is that they know the lay of the land and the community better than law enforcement. Their activities however can be very violent and contribute to the high cases of violence in Mexico. Their vigilantism is out of control. The groups therefore only benefit the community but do more harm than good for the country. Law enforcement has been seen to fail in Mexico, thus necessitating members of society to take matters into their own hands, thus the self-defence groups were formed. The laws of the United States have also been seen to aggravate the situation in Mexico despite the country causing alarm due to the high violence rate in Mexico. The ease in access of weapons in the U.S is of great concern to the Mexican government. In 2006, President Calderon pleaded with the U.S government to reinstate its ban of trading assault weapons. He cited that Mexico’s laws against arms would do little good when there is free flow of weapons. However the U.S government has to date done nothing in regards to this. The U.S has also caused violence in Latin America in other ways. This is according to Helwig (2013). It forced Latin American into enforcing free-market, non-liberal economic policies that have retarded the growth of jobs as well as hampered the reduction of income inequality. Moreover, two of the most violent gangs in Mexico, the 18th street gang and the Mara Salvatrucha were as a matter of fact, made in the U.S. they started in Los Angeles but after their members were arrested a number of times, the courts ordered their immediate deportation. To make things worse, the United States continues to pursue a war against drugs which they lost a long time ago. The war has had many casualties. The U.S went ahead to donate $1.4 billion to Mexico to aid in beefing up the war against drugs. This would prompt turmoil and violence between the government and the drug cartels. Gang wars are also quite common in Mexico. Upon the destruction of cartels, the smaller gangs that formed had to fight for territory and businesses. The bigger gangs would take over the lucrative drug business and the smaller gangs would fight for smaller businesses such as kidnapping and extortion. Even after territory has been established, the gangs still clash. Gang wars have been seen to cause deaths well into the hundreds. Gang wars are seen to start from the most trivial of matters. (Gilber 2011). They may go on for months or sometimes years therefore increasing the cases of violence and the body counts. In the 1980s however, such cases were uncommon. This is because there were cartels and the drug business was well organized. There was no scuffle as the relevant authority would receive ample gratuity to let the cartels run their business and therefore everyone was happy. The smaller gangs do not have sufficient presence to organize themselves such that all gangs have all they need. Conclusion From the above discussion, this paper can conclude that most reasons or factors contributing to violence in Mexico are political and drug related. The government has been unable to deal with the drug cartels and street gangs which have been seen to cause violence in more ways than one. (Grayson 2010). The U.S should also take its fair share of blame. By refusing to ban trade of assault weapons and by forcing Latin America to adopt unfavourable economic policies, the U.S has created conditions in Mexico that favour violence. Law enforcement agencies in Mexico are also failing in their work. Corruption, poor working conditions for police officers, inadequate resources and lack of faith by the public in the justice system should be looked into as ways of perhaps dealing with violence in Mexico. Solving this problem therefore has to start with the citizens of Mexico and its law enforcement. Bibliography Beittel, J. S., 2013. Mexixos drug related violence. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Blake, C. H. & Morris, S. D., 2010. Corruption and democracy in Latin America. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg. Camp, R. A., 2011. Mexico : What everyone needs to know. New York: Oxford University Press. Gilber, J., 2011. To die in Mexico : Dispatches from inside the drug war. San Fransisco: City Lights Books. Grayson, G. W., 2010. Mexico : Nacro-violence and a field state?. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. Grillo, I., 2011. El Narco : Inside Mexicos criminal insurgency. New York: Bloomsbury Press. Helwig, D., 2013. Drug wars impact on the Mexican executive power. s.l.:Grin Verlag. Kenny, P., Serrano, M. & Routledge, A. S., 2012. Mexicoss security failure: Collapse into criminal justice. New Mexico: s.n. Morris, S. D., 1999. Corruption & politics in conteporary Mexico. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. Morris, S. D., 2009. Plitical corrutption in Mexico : The impact of democratization. Boulder: Lynne Rienne Publishers. Read More