I just can't understand what the difference is between one side of an imaginary line and the other?!
Oh wait...
Mexico's war on drugs: what has it achieved and how is the US involved?
'Felipe Calderón launched the war after being elected in 2006, and since then the US has donated
at least $1.5bn – but the biggest costs have been human.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=2113]](http://rogue-nation3.com/attachment.php?aid=2113)
Why did Mexico launch its war on drugs?
On 10 December 2006, the newly inaugurated president, Felipe Calderón, launched Mexico’s war on
drugs by sending 6,500 troops into his home state of Michoacán, where rival cartels were engaged in
tit-for-tat massacres as they battled over lucrative territory.
The surge in violence had started in 2005, and a string of police and military operations by his predecessor
Vicente Fox had failed to stem the bloodshed.
Calderón declared war eight days after taking power – a move widely seen as an attempt to boost his own
legitimacy after a bitterly contested election victory. Within two months, around 20,000 troops were involved
in operations across the country which initially attracted widespread support from communities tired of gun
battles, gruesome execution-style murders and corrupt police.
What has the war cost so far?
The US has donated at least $1.5bn through the Merida Initiative since 2008 (another $1bn has been agreed
by Congress – PDF), while Mexico has spent at least $54bn on security and defence since 2007.
Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption at every level.
But the biggest costs have been human: since 2007, almost 200,000 people have been murdered and more
than 28,000 reported as disappeared. In September 2014, 43 trainee teachers disappeared and are presumed
to have been killed after they were attacked by corrupt police officers and handed over to drug gang members.
The case – in which the Mexican army as well as corrupt politicians were implicated – has become emblematic
of the violence perpetrated in heavily militarized zones.
Human rights groups have detailed a vast rise in human rights abuses by security forces who are under pressure
to make arrests, obtain confessions and justify the war. Reports of torture by security forces increased by 600%
between 2003 and 2013, according to Amnesty International.
As the cartels have fractured and diversified, other violent crimes such as kidnapping and extortion have also
surged. In 2010, the Los Zetas cartel – founded by a group of Special Forces deserters – massacred 72 migrants
who were kidnapped while trying to reach the US...'
SOURCE:
Oh wait...
Mexico's war on drugs: what has it achieved and how is the US involved?
'Felipe Calderón launched the war after being elected in 2006, and since then the US has donated
at least $1.5bn – but the biggest costs have been human.
Why did Mexico launch its war on drugs?
On 10 December 2006, the newly inaugurated president, Felipe Calderón, launched Mexico’s war on
drugs by sending 6,500 troops into his home state of Michoacán, where rival cartels were engaged in
tit-for-tat massacres as they battled over lucrative territory.
The surge in violence had started in 2005, and a string of police and military operations by his predecessor
Vicente Fox had failed to stem the bloodshed.
Calderón declared war eight days after taking power – a move widely seen as an attempt to boost his own
legitimacy after a bitterly contested election victory. Within two months, around 20,000 troops were involved
in operations across the country which initially attracted widespread support from communities tired of gun
battles, gruesome execution-style murders and corrupt police.
What has the war cost so far?
The US has donated at least $1.5bn through the Merida Initiative since 2008 (another $1bn has been agreed
by Congress – PDF), while Mexico has spent at least $54bn on security and defence since 2007.
Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption at every level.
But the biggest costs have been human: since 2007, almost 200,000 people have been murdered and more
than 28,000 reported as disappeared. In September 2014, 43 trainee teachers disappeared and are presumed
to have been killed after they were attacked by corrupt police officers and handed over to drug gang members.
The case – in which the Mexican army as well as corrupt politicians were implicated – has become emblematic
of the violence perpetrated in heavily militarized zones.
Human rights groups have detailed a vast rise in human rights abuses by security forces who are under pressure
to make arrests, obtain confessions and justify the war. Reports of torture by security forces increased by 600%
between 2003 and 2013, according to Amnesty International.
As the cartels have fractured and diversified, other violent crimes such as kidnapping and extortion have also
surged. In 2010, the Los Zetas cartel – founded by a group of Special Forces deserters – massacred 72 migrants
who were kidnapped while trying to reach the US...'
SOURCE:
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