While conflicts arise overseas the United States has begun to turn it's attention closer to home as reports filter out from Mexico about the rise in crime and bloody war being waged between the standing government and drug cartels. The streets of Juarez, Tijuana, and Nuevo Laredo have run red with blood over the last year, accounting for a sizable chunk of the 6,616 people who have died in drug-trafficking violence according to Mexico's attorney general. The brutality of the killings have escalated to targeting Mexican officials and soldiers, an article posted by the Wall Street Journal reports just last week Police Commander Martin Castro's decapitated head was found in an ice cooler outside the police station in the town of Praxedis left with the calling card of the Sinoloa drug cartel. One of many examples of the mafia style intimidation tactics employed by provincial drug lords as a response to Mexico's president Felipe Calderon aggressive 2 year campaign against organized crime. According to the Los Angeles Times since his induction into office Calderon has deployed 45,000 troops and 5,000 federal police officers around the country as part of the anti-drug offensive, putting pressure on the frequent trafficking of narcotics across the shared border with the U.S.
The instability of Mexico does not bode well for Calderon as he seeks to establish a relationship with the new administration, though it remains to be seen whether any direct intervening by the United States government will take place, concerns have been raised whether Mexico's violent upheaval will bleed over the border. In a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command, Mexico was grouped with Pakistan as being a potentially failing state that warrant monitoring as their collapse would directly threaten the security of the United States. Currently $400 million of the $1.4 billion Merida initiative has already been approved by congress, allocated towards supplying Mexico with the technology and hardware to combat the swell of drug trade which threatens to tear the country apart. The security-aid package is justified by advocates who cite the over $10-15 billion profits a year being supplied to cartels by American citizens who purchase narcotics, stating simply that this drug war affects us all. In a report sent at the end of last year retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, known as the drug czar under the Clinton administration, warns that "Mexico Is on the edge of the abyss-- it could become a narco-state in the coming decade." McCaffrey further points out that Mexico is vital to the American economy, supplying a third of our imported oil and housing 18,000 companies with ties to American industry. Obama Met with Calderon on January 19th and pledged the continued support of the U.S. in resolving their internal conflict through the Merida initiative though had little else to add beyond praising the "extraordinary relationship" their two countries share and stating that "My message today is that my administration is going to be ready on Day One to build a stronger relationship with Mexico."
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