By Matthew Casey
While we sit at night in our living rooms weighing the difference in Iraq policy between presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a war of immediate consequences for our beloved country continues to be waged between the corrupt Mexican Government, and Mexico’s drug cartels three hours south of our front door. However, when I log onto The Drudge Report or Huffington Post to get my daily “spin,” on major issues, news on Mexico’s two-year-old drug war is few and far between.
Today’s top story, written by Associated Press reporter, Dan Keane, and published in the Arizona Republic covers the Mexican border town of Ojinaga, and its recent protest against the iron-hand techniques employed by the Mexican army charged with protecting it.
Keane writes, “This hardscrabble Mexican border town welcomed 400 soldiers when they arrived four months ago to stop a wave of drug violence that brought daytime gunbattles to its main street.
But then the soldiers themselves turned violent, townspeople say, ransacking homes and even torturing people.
The frustration boiled over last week. More than 1,000 people marched through the streets carrying signs begging President Felipe Calderón for protection from his own troops.”
So the Mexican army is losing the confidence of its citizens and will leave a void that the drug cartels are more than happy to fill. What does this mean for us? Since the “front-line” of this war is the border, it means we will continue to see increases in deaths in border towns, armed attacks against U.S. federal agents and more human rights abuses leveled against potential illegal immigrants who are either stupid or ignorant enough to think the cartels will allow them to simply “pass through” their turf.
My partner, the world-famous Rana of Hermosillo, has repeatedly speculated that the chaos in Mexico will ultimately lead to a people’s revolution against Mexican President, Felipe Calderon. This being said, what are the consequences for the United States of revolution in Mexico? Well, the consequences are that if you think illegal immigration is currently out of control, you have not seen anything yet.
It is a natural human reaction to try and escape a war zone. Therefore, if Mexico continues its digression into all out civil war between its fabulously corrupt government and the ruthless drug cartels, no matter how bad the U.S. economy or anti-immigration legislation being implemented by individual states, the human tsunami that overruns our border has not even begun to crest. After all, threats of denial of public services and deportation beat dodging AK-47 rounds any day.
If we are serious about stopping illegal immigration, then through our hands off approach to the drug war in Mexico we are missing a golden opportunity to implement a long solution to the problem. If through military action against the cartels we can ensure improvements in everyday life in Mexico, maybe future generations will not feel compelled to travel north looking for what can not be found at home. The time has come for the U.S. State Department to add Mexico’s drug cartels to its list of terrorist organizations, and deploy our brave armed forces with the mission of permanently destroying the cartels and ensuring the future of a strong and independent Mexico.