Comparing Plan Columbia and the Merida Initiative in...

The purpose of this paper will be to make a comparison between the Colombian drug cartels at the turn of the century with the mexican cartels today. The object of this comparison will be to determine the effectiveness of large scale millitary intervention against drug cartels.I will assess weather this comparison is not only justified but in any way usefull in understanding how fight a well funded well armed non-state enemy. This is a response to public comments by high ranking United States officials making this comparison (most notably secretary of state Hillary Clinton) while pledging a significant amount of American resources to such an effort. I will also attempt to answer all of the various questions that are begged by this nature of†¦show more content†¦Florida was actually the main entry point for drugs during the early 80 s but the strengthening of the American navy and coastguard geared towards stopping smuggling led to Mexico becoming the transit point it is today . It is most important that though Mexican troops have been used largely due to the ineffective and corruption of the police department I would not classify it as a war. The army is simply there to do carry out the actions of a police force because the regular police for cannot be trusted. There is no way for either side to declare a complete victory. It is my opinion that even if every drug trafficker in Mexico dropped dead this morning there would be a new group forming to take it s place by nightfall and it wouldn t take them long to gain momentum capital and weapons. Likewise a drug gang can never truly triumph against the state without any political agenda. The majority of the murders are between rival gangs, though there have been many police officers and politicians killed the battle is essentially between the cartel groups and each other not with the state. The increased military strength is simply a self defence