Mexican drug cartels. Love em?or hate em?

[Señor_DopeyBrown]

Ahh the Mexican drug cartels. Having just gotten back from vacation in a notorious Sinaloa cartel controlled city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, I have become fascinated with the whole cartel culture.

If you read/follow media outlets who cover drug cartel news and stories you would swear that you where reading a Mexican Game Of Thrones. These news stories read like a god damn soap opera. It's fucking crazy down in Mexico

Being a young American during my Mexican adventure in a cartel ran city, I was utterly amazed to see first hand how much influence and power these people have and how the local population accepts it as a normal part of their lives.

On my Vaycay I actually met a man who I suspected was a narco. Well actually I knew he was. I was scarred shitless to meet this man but he was actually an awesome guy. Who gave me some spine tingling advice. you see I was looking for good o'l Mexican BTH and my drug guide made many of calls to try and hook me up and that's when I met Mr. Narco. He told me, in spanish of course "son your not from around here so I'm not upset, but just know that you are not going to find any BTH around here, not in this city, so please stop asking for your own good. Ok Mijo?" He said more but I don't think I can post any of it here

Any way as a young American with a unlimited supply of high quality cocaine I wanted to party! But sadly I had no one my age to hang out so I was going solo. I would ask the cabbies what clubs, casinos and strip clubs would be good and safe because I was riding solo.
He gave me a list of places and said "go to these spots and you will be safe, just be respectful, don't start any fights, and don't harass the strippers, casino staff, bartenders ect ect." He also said " you can go to other strip clubs, casinos and night clubs that are cheaper, but your safety is not guaranteed"
I asked what he meant by that and he said
"those spots that I didn't list as safe are owned by locals. You might get too drunk and a stripper/ bartender will pick your pockets. You can walk out of the establishment and get robbed by a drug addict, that's what I mean. The safe spots I listed are owned by the Cartel they are high class and no one is going to rob you, as I said pay your tab and be respectful and you will be 100% safe. Ain't no junkie or employe gonna rob you at these places, No way unless they want to end up in the ocean, know what I mean? The Cartels guarantee their customers safety as long as you don't act a fool and pay your tab"

I had a great time at the spots he recommended and never once felt unsafe. And from what I gatherd a lot of the locals support the cartel and see them as job creators and a big part of the community. They are the ones who pay for events like carnivals, festivals, circuses ect. So I have mixed feeling about the cartels you could say. On the one hand the cartel who ran the city left the innocent locals and tourist alone but I know that this is an exception

Some cartels like the knights Templars are absolute scum. They just don't make money off of drugs like the Sinaloans claim to do (the Sinaloans might even do it too but on the low key who knows). The KT and the Zetas are also in the extortion, sex slave and kidnapping game and these victims are all Mexican citizens who have no part in the drug game the Sinaloans claim to despise shit like that but like I said, who really knows?

What is your guys take on the Mexican drug cartels? A lot of the people on BL economically Support these Drug cartels but how do you feel about them? Do you support them? Or do you wish that they all just rot in prison? Do you despise a certain cartel? Or are they all the same scum? Give me your thoughts on this BLers I am very interested on your thoughts and opinions.

 

[slimvictor]

This is not the appropriate forum for this.
It is interesting, but I am not sure where to put it.
I think it sounds like a blog entry more than anything else.
Alternatively, we could try this in DC.
DC Mods, please pass it somewhere else if it fits better there.
OP, please check out the DiTM guidelines (see my signature) to know more in the future.

 

[weekend addiction]

Mexican cartels are nothing more than a by-product of American drug cartels. I have no negative feelings towards them. I wish they weren't so violent and crazy but they have to be.

 

[Cuzie]

Violent, powerful gangs are generally the end result of prohibition. They're doing what people do when there's high demand for banned products.

I think the problem is more on our side.

 

[beekr]

The carnage and damage these thugs do to innocent people is breathtaking. The consumers who purchase the drugs are fueling the violence and the suffering while reaping the benefits of it. I want the drug war to end - prohibition is bad - but until it's repealed well we shouldn't behave in a way that encourages them. Do whatever you can to help end prohibition but don't do business with anyone with links to the cartels -which is likely to be like 5 or 6 degrees of separation by the time it gets to the person you interact with. These animals will slaughter whole towns to intimidate the local governments into not fucking with them, or in their turf battles. Buy your pot from people who get it from domestic artisan farms (though those people are prolly on the cartels' hit list) and stay away from coke and heroin. That shit is making people suffer a lot more than you'll suffer when you go through withdrawal.

 

[Felonious Monk]

Interesting. There's no denying that we get a skewed view of the cartels in the MSM, as there's not really an obvious positive for the average American. But thinking of them as a reality of Mexican life, something we helped create, that could act as a positive, or at least neutral, force in the community...

It makes sense to me. Obviously it's not good for everyone (or even anyone?), but it's making the best of a bad situation. If you're going to have a powerful criminal organization, the least that group can do is take a page from the Mafia and accept that bothering the community is never the way to run a profitable business. Violence eats into profits. You'll have much more success running high-class clubs and creating long-term customers than with the rip-off approach. Any street corner dealer could tell you that. In some ways I'm surprised it's taken the cartels so long to figure out.

 

[Señor_DopeyBrown]

Nice input every one keep em coming. Reading and actually talking to local Mexicans in Sinaloan cartel plaza (turf)about the cartel I am of the opinion that the Sinaloa Cartel is actually a very moral and is very protective of the innocent citizens of in the plazas they control.

I have heard stories from the locals about how the cartel pays for many local girls quinceañera's ( kinda like a sweet 16, but it's a bigger deal in Mexico for 15 year old girls, it's a huge celebration with church, families ect involved.) at least for the girls who cannot afford them. And I was shocked to hear about all these high class establishments are Cartel owned so the Mexicans in Sinaloan turf really support the cartel.

But in Zeta and knights Templar controlled territories it's very different. The people are all potential targets of extortion, sex trade and kidnapping. I have heard from locals that they would rather be in Sinaloan cartel turf then one controlled from the zetas or the KT. Hell they rather be with the Sinaloans then the damn government. I guess mexico would be a much safer place if it was controlled by the Sinaloans.