Mexico's Fight w/ Drug Cartels

Our neighbor to the South, Mexico, is in a major battle with drug lords. We don't see much discussion of this in our MSM, but it does go on. And, it didn't seem to attract much attention in the recent presidential campaign.

The loss of the Mexican Interior Minister, Juan Camilo Mourino, and one of his drug war experts, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, in a plane crash on Tuesday was a serious blow to the efforts of President Felipe Calderon. In a way, it reminds me of the loss of Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay in a C-47 crash in 1957.

Now we have a report from the al Jazeera website, saying that a bomb on board has been ruled out. The report goes on to say that notwithstanding this report, "many Mexicans will suspect foul play in a country where fear of being a drug-gang target hangs heavily over government officials."

As the al Jazeera report points out, over 4,000 people have been murdered this year in the drug war battles. Most of the murders were within the drag cartels, but a number of Police Chiefs have also been assissinated.

At the end of the day we should acknowledge that most of the illegal drugs entering Mexico are not for Mexicans, but are just passing through, heading for the United States, where the big profits are to be made--profits that are untaxed and thus rob the nation twice.

I hope that our new President will make Mexico one of his first priorities and keeps it at the top of his list. The death of 4,000 people is not to be sneezed at, even if most of them are people in another nation involved in trafficing illegal drugs to sell to our citizens.

Regards -- Cliff