By Martin Arvizu

 

I watch my share of Fox News and CNN throughout the day and recently saw as President-elect Obama spoke on the fighting in the Gaza strip. I do not watch the news every day, so I thought maybe he has spoken about the situation in Mexico, but I missed it.  I understand that he is not the president yet and needs to leave the situation alone until he is officially sworn in, but he at least addressed the Gaza situation. With the exception of the Southwest, especially the Border States, the United States government has yet to seriously address the crisis in Mexico.

According this story by CNN, the drug war in Mexico accounted for some 5,400 murders, most of them in grisly fashion. That includes policemen, soldiers and high-ranking government officials not to mention innocent by-standards. This is also happening in Iraq where insurgents are killing policemen and soldiers along with innocents. There it is called an uprising. The US deems that situation serious enough to send American troops there but not to our next door neighbor. The United States has sent money which is dwarfed by how much the cartels have at their disposal. 

I am not sure what the answer to this dilemma.  As someone who is fascinated by Mexico and who tries to read as much as he can on its current and past events I am somewhat perplexed as to how this situation will play out. I believed before this violence started that Mexico was headed for some type of civil strife but not like this. After the Chiapas rebellion in 1994 it was obvious there was plenty of discontent in the country. I read a book that stated that there were cells throughout the country that refused to join the uprising that day. Then there were the strikers in Oaxaca where an American journalist was shot by Mexican soldiers. And now the cartels and their complete and total defiance towards the government. It is enough to baffle most experts on Mexico. Will the cartels win with so many funds at their disposal? How can a country with so much bad blood between its people reconcile enough to win this war? And more importantly if the government does win and the cartels are dismantled, what can they offer as a replacement? All those people employed by the cartels, what will they do then? Migrate to the United States?

Like I said, the Mexican government has a lot to think about in 2009. If the trend continues the body count will more than double as it did from 2007 to 2008. I am not looking for Obama to provide answers right away, as I believe no one can right now. Just some recognition.