International - Mexico

(Mexico - importance to the United States) "On a day-to-day basis, no other country affects the United States as Mexico does. More than ever, Mexico and the United States are deeply interdependent: they are connected by more than $300 billion in annual cross-border trade, tens of millions of U.S. and Mexican citizens in binational families, and the everyday interactions of more than 14 million people living along the nearly two-thousand-mile shared border."

(Mexico - transit source of illicit drugs) "Mexico is both a major transit and source country for illicit drugs reaching the United States. Approximately 95 percent of the estimated cocaine flow toward the United States transits the Mexico-Central America corridor from its origins in South America. Mexico is also a major supplier of heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine to the United States. Most drug crop production occurs in rural western areas of Mexico where detection and eradication of illicit crops are difficult and police presence is minimal."

Mexico - Data

(2010 - Mexico - death rates in the Western Hemisphere) "... violence elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere is far worse than in Mexico. Whereas 45,000 homicides (14 per 100,000) have occurred in Mexico since 2007, Brazil and Colombia saw more than 80,000 (20 per 100,000) and 50,000 (30 per 100,000) murders, respectively.²"

(2010 - Mexico - Merida Initiative costs) "Since 2008, the U.S. Congress has appropriated $1.5 billion for Mérida – this includes $379.25 million in FY 2010 alone. While significant funding has gone toward equipment, the Mérida Initiative is increasingly oriented toward building institutional capacity and reducing the pervasive corruption that enables drug trafficking. Specific training and equipment elements are detailed in Letters of Agreement between the USG [United States Government] and the GOM [Government of Mexico]. As of December 31, 2010, $351 million in equipment and training has been delivered under the Merida Initiative."

(2010 - Mexico - drug-related killings) "In 2010, the number of drug-related killings in Mexico surpassed all previous years. According to Mexico‘s Reforma newspaper, there were 11,583 drug-related murders in Mexico in 2010, compared with 6,587 in 2009."

(2010 - Mexico - Merida Initiative costs and activities) "The Merida Initiative, a multi-year law enforcement and security cooperation programme involving Mexico, the United States and countries in Central America that was initiated in 2007, continues to be the focal point of cooperation at the regional level to counter drug trafficking and related forms of organized crime. The Government of the United States provided about US$ 1.3 billion in funding for 2008 and 2009 and proposed to allocate an additional US$ 450 million for Mexico (and US$ 100 million for Central America) for 2010. ... Activities carried out under the Merida Initiative have included the provision of helicopters and inspection equipment, the expansion of police and customs canine teams, and the participation of over 5,500 federal and state officials from Mexican law enforcement and judicial agencies in training programmes."

(2001-2010 - crime - drug-related homicides in Mexico) "There has been a dramatic increase in violence in recent years. Regardless what measure is used, the most immediately observable trend regarding recent violence in Mexico is simply the large and increasing number of intentional homicides associated with organized crime. As noted above, according to PGR [Mexican Attorney General’s Office] figures reported by the CNDH [Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission], there were a total of 6,680 drug-related killings from 2001-2005. With 1,776 officially designated organized crime killings in 2005 and 2,221 in 2006, the rate of violence increased by 36% and 25%, respectively, during these years."

"During the period from 2007 to 2010, however, the total number of organized crime related homicides identified by the Mexican government reached 34,550. In other words, the number of organized crime homicides reported during the first four years of the Calderón administration was four times greater than the total of 8,901 such killings identified during the entire Fox administration (2001-2006). With an estimated 76,131 intentional homicides in Mexico since 2007, killings related to organized crime accounted for about 45% of all murders in the country. While the upward trend in violence dates back to 2005, the major increase in violence came after a dramatic spike in 2008, as organized crime related homicides jumped to 6,837 killings, a 142% increase from 2007. After another increase of more than 40% to 9,614 killings in 2009, the number of killings linked to organized crime jumped by 59% in 2010, reaching a new record total of 15,273 deaths."

(2009 - causes of death - drug violence in Mexico) "The cross-border flow of money and guns into Mexico from the United States has enabled well-armed and well-funded cartels to engage in violent activities. They employ advanced military tactics and utilize sophisticated weaponry such as sniper rifles, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and even mortars in attacks on security personnel. DTOs have openly challenged the GOM through conflict and intimidation and have fought amongst themselves to control drug distribution routes. The results led to unprecedented violence and a general sense of insecurity in certain areas of the country, particularly near the U.S. border. Between January and September 2009, there were 5,874 drug-related murders in Mexico, an almost 5 percent increase over 2008 (5,600)."

(2009 - Mexico - drug production and value) "Mexican territory is used for the production of illicit drugs to be smuggled into countries in North America, particularly the United States. Much of the cannabis smuggled into the United States is illicitly produced in Mexico. According to UNODC, the illicit production of and trafficking in cannabis constitute the most important source of income for Mexican drug cartels, accounting for an estimated $8.5 billion, or about 61 per cent, of their annual income. As much as 90 per cent of the cocaine from South America is smuggled into the United States through Mexico. Illicit cultivation of opium poppy has increased every year since 2000, with a corresponding increase in the illicit manufacture of opiates, primarily heroin. Most opiates found in the United States originate in Mexico."

(2009 - Mexico - drug use and deaths) "In Mexico, a national survey showed that from 2002 to 2008 there was a significant increase in the abuse of drugs, in particular cocaine. According to Government estimates, the abuse of cocaine, particularly “crack”, continued to increase sharply in 2009. Most drug-related deaths were attributed to the abuse of cocaine (449 deaths in 2009, an increase of 90 per cent over 2008). There was also a sharp increase in the abuse of heroin, methamphetamine, hallucinogens, solvents and inhalants. The most commonly abused drug continued to be cannabis, followed by cocaine. One reason for the increased abuse of drugs is that drug trafficking has resulted in drugs being more widely available in the country."

(2009 - Mexico - detention of drug trafficking leaders) "A number of important leaders of drug trafficking organizations and their key associates have been captured, and the Government has continued to dismiss officials co-opted by the traffickers through various means, including intimidation and blackmail. In recent years, the Mexican authorities have detained several leaders of the main drug trafficking organizations and arrested or detained more than 35,000 members of such organizations."

(2009 - Mexico - drug-related murders) "It is in Mexico, however, that the pernicious societal impact of the Latin American cocaine and heroin trade has been greatest, contributing to what amounts to the wholesale breakdown of basic civility across the country—something that has been particularly evident in the northern border states.⁸ According to Guillermo Valdés Castellanos, director of the National Security and Intelligence Center (Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional, or CISEN), more than 28,000 drug-related murders have occurred since Felipe Calderón launched an all-out offensive on the country’s cartels in 2006.⁹ To put these figures in perspective, note that fewer than 4,300 U.S. soldiers lost their lives in Iraq between 2003 and 2008."

(2009 - Mexico - guns used by drug cartels) "In 2009, ATF reported to Congress that about 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico that ATF has traced were initially sold in the United States.⁷ The Southwest border states – Texas, California, Arizona, and to a lesser extent, New Mexico – are primary sources of guns used by Mexican drug cartels."

(2008 - Mexico - methamphetamine) "Preliminary 2008 availability and seizure data indicate a strengthening in domestic methamphetamine availability and domestic methamphetamine production, and an increase in the flow of methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico—most likely attributable to the efforts of methamphetamine producers in both countries to reestablish the methamphetamine supply chain in the face of disruptions and shortages that began occurring in early 2007. Throughout 2007 methamphetamine availability decreased in U.S. drug markets, causing instability in the methamphetamine supply chain. Prior to 2007, U.S. drug markets relied on the strong flow of methamphetamine produced in Mexico, a supply system established in 2005 and strengthened in 2006. However, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine restrictions in Mexico resulted in a decrease in methamphetamine production in Mexico and reduced the flow of the drug from Mexico to the United States in 2007 and from January through June 2008."

(2008 - crime - Mexico - drug operations) "Today Mexico is a major producer and supplier to the U.S. market of heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana and the major transit country for cocaine sold in the United States. According to the Department of State’s 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, as much as 90% of the cocaine entering the United States now transits through Mexico. A small number of Mexican DTOs control the most significant drug distribution operations along the Southwest border. The criminal activities of these Mexican DTOs reach well beyond the towns and cities of the border, extending along drug trafficking routes into cities across the United States. The Mexican DTOs have exhibited many characteristics of organized crime such as being organized in distinct cells and controlling subordinate cells that operate throughout the United States.¹"

(2008 - interdiction - cocaine value and drug trafficking cartels) "As Mexican traffickers wrested control of the most valuable portions of the trafficking chain from the Colombians, Mexico itself has become by far the most important conduit for cocaine entering the United States. Today, some 200 mt of cocaine transits Central America and Mexico annually, bringing some US$6 billion to the regional 'cartels'. As a result, those who control the portions of the Mexican border through which the bulk of the drug passes have gained wealth and power comparable to that commanded by the Colombian cartels in their heyday. These groups command manpower and weaponry sufficient to challenge the state when threatened, including access to military arms and explosives."

(2008 - causes of death - drug violence in Mexico) "More than 5,600 people died in drug trafficking violence in Mexico in 2008, more than double the prior year. This escalation in the level of violence was matched by a growing ferocity. Beginning in early 2008, there was an increase in assassinations of high-level law enforcement officials, gruesome murders including beheadings, violent kidnappings, use of a growing and varied arsenal of high-powered weapons, and one incidence of indiscriminate killing of civilians.⁶ The battle for control of the multi-billion dollar drug trade has been—and continues to be—brutal. While the U.S. and Mexican media began to shift their attention away from the sensational crimes allegedly committed by the Mexican DTOs in late spring, the high numbers of killings have continued, exceeding an estimated 2,000 thus far in 2009."

(2008 - Mexico - firearms traced to the United States) "Of the 87 percent of firearms traced from Mexico to the United States from 2004 to 2008, about 68 percent of those firearms were manufactured in the United States, and about 19 percent were manufactured in third countries and imported into the United States before being trafficked into Mexico. Many of these firearms are high-caliber and high-powered, such as AK-type semi-automatic rifles and AK-type pistols that are becoming increasingly popular with traffickers."

(2006 - cocaine trafficking and Mexico) "The US authorities estimate that around 90% of the cocaine, which entered their country in 2006, transited the Mexico-Central America corridor. The amounts of cocaine trafficked into the United States declined, however, in 2006 and this trend became more pronounced in 2007 as Mexican authorities stepped up efforts to fight the drug cartels operating on their territory, which also increased the level of cocaine related violence in Mexico. US cocaine seizures along the country’s southern border declined by 20% over the first two quarters of 2007 on a year earlier and by almost 40% in the second quarter of 2007, as compared to the second quarter of 2006. The main entry point of cocaine into the United States continues to be the common border of Mexico with southern Texas (accounting for a third of all seizures along the border with Mexico in 2006), followed by the border with southern California (18%).¹⁴"

(2006 - global cocaine trafficking) "Mexico is the main transit country of cocaine shipments to North America. Trafficking to Mexico and further on to the United States declined, however, in 2006 and 2007. About 52% of cocaine was trafficked to Mexico by sea in 2006, another 18% by land from Central America (Guatemala and Belize) and 30% by air. These figures suggest that 2006 saw a decline in trafficking by sea and by land and – in relative terms – an increase in trafficking by air as compared to a year earlier. Aircrafts often bring cocaine into Mexico from Venezuela, Colombia and from countries in Central America, notably Guatemala.¹² Important entry points for cocaine into Mexico by sea continue to be the Pacific region and the peninsula of Yukatan on the Atlantic coast. From there, the drug is usually transported by land northwards. In volume terms, most cocaine shipments are by sea. In terms of cases, most seizures are for deliveries by land. About 90% of the cocaine is destined for the USA, 7% is destined for Europe (often by air to Spain, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy) and 3% is for local consumption.".¹³

(2003 - methamphetamine manufacturing and importing) "80 percent of all methamphetamine in the United States comes from super labs in Mexico and California. However, the purity of that methamphetamine ranges from 15 percent to 20 percent. Individuals who manufacture meth, often dubbed 'cookers' usually only make about an ounce for personal use, but the product is about 85 percent to 95 percent pure."

(2008 - economics - global - money laundering and gross revenue of Mexican DTOs) "Mexico also remains a hub for money laundering. It is estimated that DTOs’ [drug trafficking organizations] annual gross revenue ranges between $15-30 billion from illicit drug sales in the U.S. Most of these proceeds are returned from the U.S. primarily through bulk currency shipments and laundered through legitimate Mexican businesses."

(2000-2005 - economics - global - U.S. counternarcotics support costs) "However, during fiscal years 2000-2005, the United States provided about $6.2 billion to support counternarcotics and related programs in the source and transit zones (see table 1).¹² In the source zone, U.S. assistance supports eradication and interdiction efforts and related programs for alternative development and judicial reform, primarily in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. In the transit zone, the United States provided about $365 million in assistance—primarily to El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Mexico —to support interdiction and other law enforcement programs."

"For fiscal year 2006, the Administration has requested an additional $735 million for countries in the source zone and $77 million for countries in the transit zone."

"From fiscal year 2000 through 2005, the United States provided about $365 million in assistance to countries in the transit zone. Of this, Mexico received approximately $115 million to support its efforts to eradicate opium poppy and marijuana, and improve surveillance and intelligence capabilities."

(2010 - Mexico - marijuana exported to U.S.)
"• Mexican DTOs’ gross revenues from moving marijuana across the border into the United States and selling it to wholesalers is likely less than $2 billion, and our preferred estimate is closer to $1.5 billion. This figure does not include revenue from DTO production and distribution in the United States, which is extremely difficult to estimate with existing data.

"• The ubiquitous claim that 60 percent of Mexican DTO export revenues come from U.S. marijuana consumption (Fainaru and Booth, 2009; Yes on 19, undated) should not be taken seriously. No publicly available source verifies or explains this figure and subsequent analyses revealed great uncertainty about the estimate (GAO, 2007). Our analysis— though preliminary on this point—suggests that 15–26 percent is a more credible range of the share of drug export revenues attributable to marijuana."

Mexico - Law and Policy

(The Merida Initiative - Mexico) "[The Department of] State generally lacks outcome-based measures that define success in the short term and the long term, making it difficult to determine effectiveness and leaving unclear when the Initiative’s goals will be met. Establishing better performance measures could provide Congress and other stakeholders with valuable information on outcomes, enabling them to make more informed decisions on whether or not policies and approaches might need to be revised and in what ways. Regarding program implementation, there are no timelines for future deliveries of some equipment and training, particularly for a range of capacity building programs that will take on a large role going forward. Provision of time frames for the commencement and completion of programs would set expectations for stakeholders, including the Mexican government, which has expressed concerns about the pace of delivery."

(corruption - research - Mexico) "Mexico's police and armed services are known to be contaminated by multimillion dollar bribes from the transnational narco-trafficking business. Though the problem is not as pervasive in the military as it is in the police, it is widely considered to have attained the status of a national security threat."

Interdiction - Research

(flaws in U.S.-Mexico strategies) "One flaw of current U.S.-Mexico strategy is the false presumption that international trafficking of drugs, guns, and cash can be effectively addressed through interdiction, particularly along the nearly two thousand- mile U.S.-Mexico border. After a three-decade effort to beef up security, the border is more heavily fortified than at any point since the U.S.-Mexico war of 1846–48. The United States has deployed more than twenty thousand border patrol agents and built hundreds of miles of fencing equipped with high-tech surveillance equipment, all at an annual cost of tens of billions of dollars. Although this massive security buildup at the border has yielded the highest possible operational control, the damage to Mexico’s drug cartels caused by border interdiction has been inconsequential.⁴³ Meanwhile, heightened interdiction at the border has had several unintended consequences, including added hassles and delays that obstruct billions of dollars in legitimate commerce each year, the expansion and increased sophistication of cross-border smuggling operations, and greater U.S. vulnerability to attacks and even infiltration by traffickers.⁴⁴ Further efforts to beef up the border through more patrolling and fencing will have diminishing returns, and will likely cause more economic harm than gains in security for the struggling communities of the border region.⁴⁵"

(methamphetamine from Mexico) "Law enforcement pressure and strong precursor chemical sales restrictions have achieved marked success in decreasing domestic methamphetamine production. Mexican DTOs, however, have exploited the vacuum created by rapidly expanding their control over methamphetamine distribution -- even to eastern states -- as users and distributors who previously produced the drug have sought new, consistent sources. These Mexican methamphetamine distribution groups (supported by increased methamphetamine production in Mexico) are often more difficult for local law enforcement agencies to identify, investigate, and dismantle because they typically are much more organized and experienced than local independent producers and distributors. Moreover, these Mexican criminal groups typically produce and distribute ice methamphetamine that usually is smoked, potentially resulting in a more rapid onset of addiction to the drug."