poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
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Toll of a long war sparks calls for a new approach
Latin American neighbours are challenging the tough US stance on drugs, writes Nick O'Malley in Washington.
Continued at-
http://www.smh.com.au/world/toll-of-a-long-war-sparks-calls-for-a-new-approach-20120524-1z7rr.html
Latin American neighbours are challenging the tough US stance on drugs, writes Nick O'Malley in Washington.
The bodies were found just north of Monterrey near the town of Cadereyta Jimenez, some in rubbish bags, some strewn on the roadside. They were mostly men, mostly missing their heads, hands and feet.
There were 49 in all, which was a lot even for Mexico, so the grim discovery a fortnight ago made news in a country where mass murder is so common as to be banal.
Earlier in the month 15 bodies were found on the road to Chapala and 23 were discovered in Nuevo Laredo. Of those, nine were hanging from a highway overpass and 14 were decapitated.
More than 50,000 have been killed in the war on drugs in Mexico since a crackdown began in December 2006. (A quick comparison: it took the United States nearly 15 years to lose 47,000 soldiers in the Vietnam War.)
Mexico's tragedy is that it lies between the US, which has an apparently insatiable appetite for drugs, and Colombia, where most of the world's cocaine is produced.
As the US prosecuted its war on drugs, both in its own territory and in that of its southern neighbours, its interdiction became more sophisticated. The sea routes through the Caribbean into Florida became more difficult, so the smugglers turned inland, up through Central America into Mexico with its porous 3000-kilometre border with the US.
There were 49 in all, which was a lot even for Mexico, so the grim discovery a fortnight ago made news in a country where mass murder is so common as to be banal.
Earlier in the month 15 bodies were found on the road to Chapala and 23 were discovered in Nuevo Laredo. Of those, nine were hanging from a highway overpass and 14 were decapitated.
More than 50,000 have been killed in the war on drugs in Mexico since a crackdown began in December 2006. (A quick comparison: it took the United States nearly 15 years to lose 47,000 soldiers in the Vietnam War.)
Mexico's tragedy is that it lies between the US, which has an apparently insatiable appetite for drugs, and Colombia, where most of the world's cocaine is produced.
As the US prosecuted its war on drugs, both in its own territory and in that of its southern neighbours, its interdiction became more sophisticated. The sea routes through the Caribbean into Florida became more difficult, so the smugglers turned inland, up through Central America into Mexico with its porous 3000-kilometre border with the US.
Continued at-
http://www.smh.com.au/world/toll-of-a-long-war-sparks-calls-for-a-new-approach-20120524-1z7rr.html
