Trouble lies just beyond the southern border.
Mexico faces internal strife as the populace riots against government corruption in response to the kidnapping and alleged killing of 43 students in the state of Guerrero.
According to the Mexican government, the students were stopped by the police while on a bus and given to the drug cartel Guerreros Unidos in ?mid-September.
Last week, the Mexican attorney general announced the discovery of charred human remains in a river and a dump within Guerrero that are presumed to be the bodies of the missing ?students.
As the capital of Mexico burns from the fires started by a population fed up with government injustice, I believe the United States must do more to bring the violence occurring in Mexico to the forefront of foreign policy discussion.
The sheer proximity of Mexico to the U.S. lends relevance to the turmoil that is occurring in the southern nation.
Since 2006, the fight waged by the Mexican government against drug trafficking has killed more than 60,000 people.
However, the United States is complicit in fueling drug operations in the troubled country.
From 2007 to 2011, almost 70 percent of confiscated weapons in Mexico originated in the U.S., CNN reported.
Additionally, the majority of cocaine within the U.S. passes through the southern border. The drugs are readily consumed, as cartels are estimated to profit upwards of $20 billion annually from the U.S. alone.
Despite America’s attempts to isolate itself from the problems of its neighbor by reinforcing a wall, the U.S.’ inadvertent contributions to the Mexican drug war is a reminder of the simple principle of proximity.
Regardless of the ideological distance between two neighboring countries, a neighbor’s mess, if left unchecked, will eventually become one’s own.
Since the beginning of the war in 2006, the U.S. has provided substantial aid to the Mexican government to curb the ?violence.
The Merida Initiative, implemented in 2008, provided the southern nation with $1.6 billion in police training and ?equipment.
Although the billions have led to the capture of several high-level members of drug cartels, the initiative may be fueling the violence.
Battles for the leadership position typically break out in cartels after high-ranking officals are detained.
The U.S. deserves recognition for its efforts in creating a plan to address the violence in Mexico.
Ultimately, however, money alone has seldom solved foreign crises before and is unlikely to solve the one raging ?below the border.
Increased American attention to the Mexican crisis is not only in Mexico’s best interest but also in the interest of America, as well.
caheredi@indiana.edu
