Mexico’s Drug War is Our War, Too

It’s the phone call every Mexican immigrant in America dreads—the anonymous, vulgar, and threatening voice demanding ransom for a family member’s release. Such an event can throw an entire family into distress, calling distant relatives, friends, friends of friends, and anyone else who might be able to lend money. And even if a ransom can be gathered together, that’s no guarantee a kidnapping victim in Mexico will be released.

But why should Americans care? Because this horror, this distress, fear, and chaos could be happening to a Mexican family you know, you live next to, or you come across every day.

The drug war in Mexico is like cancer; everyone there either knows someone who has survived it, or knows someone who has died from it. Most Americans don’t understand the connection that’s maintained between Mexican immigrants in the US and their friends and family in Mexico. Word of mouth is very powerful, and often when a Mexican national gets deported, people in Mexico usually their friend or family member is on the way home. Especially in smaller communities, it’s easy to discover most people’s whereabouts, which is why it’s typical for a kidnapper to be able to contact a kidnap victim’s relatives in the US relatively quickly.

The nature of the Mexico’s drug war has changed quite a bit in the last seven years. It used to be that only the “bad guys”—people directly involved in the drug business—were killing or getting killed themselves. But as drug trafficking revenue shrinks due to enforcement efforts and competition between TCOs, criminals have had to turn to other methods of generating profits. As kidnapping for ransom has grown in popularity in Mexico, so has the targeting of innocent people—namely, Mexican and Central American migrants headed north, or Mexican citizens with family members already living in the U.S.

The problem is, Mexican TCOs view immigrants—legal or otherwise—as a potential source of easy cash. Many migrants pay a smuggler, known as a coyote, several thousand dollars to ensure safe passage to, then across, the US-Mexico border. TCO thugs and border bandits know these migrants had a source of cash to pay the coyotes, and assume there must be more where that came from.

They also know migrants usually have friends and/or family members already living in the US. Under duress, kidnapped migrants can provide cartel kidnappers with information about their family members in the US who hopefully can round up enough cash to ensure their release. Often enough, migrants can’t come up with the ransom and are executed on the spot, their bodies buried in mass graves along some deserted stretch of a Mexican road, or left to bake in the desert sun.

Even if these migrants arrive safely in the US, this doesn’t mean they’re in the clear. Chances are they left some family members behind in Mexico. They may find work, and save enough money to start living a decent life and send some money back home. Then a year or two later, they may be the ones on the receiving end of that dreaded phone call.

No matter where in the US you live, chances are there’s at least a small Mexican community there, or in the city closest to you. It’s likely you cross paths with someone from Mexico on a regular basis—at a restaurant, a hotel, the supermarket, or any number of stores and businesses. The next time you talk to someone from Mexico, ask him or her what part of the country he or she is from (and commit it to memory so you can do a Google News search on it when you get home). Next, ask if he or she still has family there; the answer will almost always be yes.

Finally, ask if any of them have been affected by the ongoing violence. Again, the answer will almost always be yes. A friend or relative who has been kidnapped, threatened, forced to go into the drug trade, received threatening phone calls, witnessed a murder or shootout…be prepared. The answer may surprise you. As Americans, we need to understand that Mexico is not fighting this war alone. We are inextricably tied to Mexico’s economy, its drug war, and its people. Thus, it’s not just Mexico’s drug war; it’s our war, too.

Comments

[Daniel S]

Its not just a common war, its a war that has to fight separately, but simultaneously work together to eradicate drugs, guns and violence in both countries.

[Ana Castillo]

Definitivamente coincido que esta "guerra" no es solo nuestra (soy mexicana y vivo en México) pero no es tambíen SU guerra unicamente por la inmensa cantidad de inmigrantes que viven en su país, no, esa no es la razón... la razón es el excesivo consumo de estupefacientes que la sociedad de USA requiere y ha requerido por décadas para sus jóvenes, para sus veteranos, para sus enfermos, o sus millonarios... y aún cuando AHORA se diera el milagroso cambio y modificaran el consumo, sería demasiado tarde porque SU trabajo como socios naturales de los narcos ya esta hecho, ya levantaron el Imperio lo suficiente como para que la simple abstinencia lo haga caer.
Agradezco a mi Presidente su trabajo, el enfrentamiento que mantiene en contra de los narcos, pero sé que no basta y quizas no exista solución o quizas tengan que pasar las mismas décadas que implicaron su desarrollo para terminar con ellos.
Y pues no queda mas que aceptar las consecuencias de cada una de nuestras acciones, nosotros los oídos sordos cuando todo esto inició (hace décadas) y ustedes el consumo insaciable. Y a todo esto agreguemos a los Zetas, sanguinarios, violentos, sin escrúpulos ... cada uno tendrá que lidiar con su batalla, en su propia trinchera.

[Slow POKEY]

Truly sad stories and they may be just beginning. This is our war too and I would like to offer these two pieces that I think will supplement your article. This first one is a short piece I think you will approve of.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/28/3556326/drug-war-sends-emotionally-troubled.html

This second one is lengthy
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1083

[Bruce Randall]

My significant other, who speaks Spanish and works at the HQ of a major U.S. law enforcement agency in the DC area, had to contend with a distraught cleaning lady whose daughter had been kidnapped and held hostage for ransom while (illegally) transiting from El Salvador to the USA through Mexico. This event went on for some 2-weeks before it was somehow resolved (apparently by the payment of some money). So the daughter was able to continue her illegal entry into the USA. Fortunate to still be alive in my humble opinion.

[Cory]

In Wyoming we have a large mexican population and I have heard horror stories a bunch of times about family members being killed, held hostage, etc.

The only people that would think this isn't our war too are people that are not in law enforcement. I don't say that as being negative, but anybody that's in law enforcement has dealt with this at least once in the last year or so. I, myself, have dealt with it several times in the last 3-4 months. We have a human smuggling unit that's also the felony warrant/fugitive task force and we deal with it several times a month. Without going into great detail just this past week we had a mexican lady come and say her daughter was being held hostage and that she had gotten two phone calls demanding money.

When I become an officer border violence and cartels were not my radar of things that I thought I was going to be dealing with. Even after I joined the HSU/FTF team I didn't think I would deal with it much, but I have been shown the error of my thinking.

[Elva M]

I join the conversation rather late, but I think these stories need to be told. I am a US citizen of Mexican descent. Most of my parents' family members still live in Mexico. Last year, my first cousin was kidnapped for ransom in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He was not involved in any shady business- he was a butcher, had his own business and was simply trying to give his family a nice living.
Someone close to him (ID'd by employee who witnessed kidnapping on his way to work) was inlvolved in the kidnapping. I'm not sure how much money the family was able to bring together, but a ransom WAS paid, after which we were told he would be at a shopping center.
He was inside of a car at said shopping center, dead of a gun shot wound to the head. He left 2 young children behind who will only know their father through pictures.
My family is not involved in anything drug-related. The kidnappers saw he was somewhat successful and knew he had family in the US, and that's all they needed. The police never made much progress in the investigation.