SangerRainsford
Bluelighter
He (escobar) was killed, but it's an entirely different situation. From a historical perspective, Escobar represented the last *true* "Kingpin". After smashing his group, the 'power vacuum's lure was so strong as to split factions, and down the road, in Mexico, the factions are split even further (I believe it's still just AUC and FARC in Colombia, fightin their never ending civil war).
The violence got bad in Colombia, no doubt - maybe even moreso than Mexico, **RELATIVELY** speaking. Mexico's death toll from this prohibition of hard drugs is like mid-30,000's over the past several years alone, which puts the medellin#'s down a bit (you gave current #'s, do you have #'s from when pablo was still kingpin?)
((Sry gotta bounce b4 finishing, passion out (literally) at the computer, am drinking a coffee but doubt it'll matter. ))
Mexico is in a weird spot here for two main reasons. One is that we let this go on so long that things moved past small "narcoguerrillas", which iirc was popular for the AUC/FARC in Colombia, to the point of straight-up "narcoTerrorists". No person wants to get in a debate arguing that the cartels have crossed the line into terrorism, unless they like being embarrassed. Two, they've run this unchecked for so long that their resources are obscene - a 30 SUV<all armored> caravan, flanked by local/state police, driving down the road in Mexico is "socially acceptable", despite it clearly equalling "the cartels are not only all-powerful, but above the law as well". That's why Felipe Calderon brought(err, was pressured to bring) his federal forces/army(marines only? unsure) in, since all local cops, staties, and justice systems were already corrupted. The federal troops and their (limited abilities/desires) to take bribes has made them a force to reckon w/ for the cartels, and has led to the sickening death toll of ~35k dead over the past several years.
Suffice to say, there's no man, or cartel, that could be taken out that would affect the situation here. If the zetas wiped out gulf-cartel tomorrow, if sinaloa wiped out zetas, if sinaloa+gulf+(la)familia micanoa* (SP?) + matazetas(likely a CDG hit-wing) wiped out the zetas, if CDG and CDS wiped out the zetas, or (my best guess IF they got wiped out) the CDG+Military(+behind the scenes foreign and/or other cartels) took them out, it wouldn't matter- then they'd just decide which cartel was next, while the disbanded zetas would probably form at least 2 new cartels.
There's nothing short of heavy force, or legalization, that can counter the cartels in their current state.
The violence got bad in Colombia, no doubt - maybe even moreso than Mexico, **RELATIVELY** speaking. Mexico's death toll from this prohibition of hard drugs is like mid-30,000's over the past several years alone, which puts the medellin#'s down a bit (you gave current #'s, do you have #'s from when pablo was still kingpin?)
((Sry gotta bounce b4 finishing, passion out (literally) at the computer, am drinking a coffee but doubt it'll matter. ))
Mexico is in a weird spot here for two main reasons. One is that we let this go on so long that things moved past small "narcoguerrillas", which iirc was popular for the AUC/FARC in Colombia, to the point of straight-up "narcoTerrorists". No person wants to get in a debate arguing that the cartels have crossed the line into terrorism, unless they like being embarrassed. Two, they've run this unchecked for so long that their resources are obscene - a 30 SUV<all armored> caravan, flanked by local/state police, driving down the road in Mexico is "socially acceptable", despite it clearly equalling "the cartels are not only all-powerful, but above the law as well". That's why Felipe Calderon brought(err, was pressured to bring) his federal forces/army(marines only? unsure) in, since all local cops, staties, and justice systems were already corrupted. The federal troops and their (limited abilities/desires) to take bribes has made them a force to reckon w/ for the cartels, and has led to the sickening death toll of ~35k dead over the past several years.
Suffice to say, there's no man, or cartel, that could be taken out that would affect the situation here. If the zetas wiped out gulf-cartel tomorrow, if sinaloa wiped out zetas, if sinaloa+gulf+(la)familia micanoa* (SP?) + matazetas(likely a CDG hit-wing) wiped out the zetas, if CDG and CDS wiped out the zetas, or (my best guess IF they got wiped out) the CDG+Military(+behind the scenes foreign and/or other cartels) took them out, it wouldn't matter- then they'd just decide which cartel was next, while the disbanded zetas would probably form at least 2 new cartels.
There's nothing short of heavy force, or legalization, that can counter the cartels in their current state.
