By Howie Katz
Sinaloa cartel co-founder and current leader Ismael “El
Mayo” Zambada, along with El Chapo's son Joaquín Guzmán López, was
tricked into believing his plane was landing in northern Mexico when in
fact it landed in El Paso where he and El Chapo's son were captured by
the FBI on July 25, 2024
Make no mistake
about it, we created the Mexican drug cartels. We did it with our
insatiable hunger for drugs and our refusal to crack down on the users
of illegal drugs.
The Sinaloa Cartel and
the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) are the two most powerful of the
Mexican cartels. The have their own armies and control large areas of
Mexico.
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, commonly referred to as El Mencho, is the founder and leader of the Jalisco New Generation (Pictured with two of his children)
Soldiers of the Jalisco New Generation army
How
did Mexico's cartels arise to become so powerful? It all goes back to
the counter culture that popped up during the Vietnam War. Prior to that
time, America's users of illegal drugs were sent to prison if caught
and no one gave a damn. Why? Because then most of the illicit users were
were mostly blacks and Mexicans.
The
counter culture that arose out of the anti-Vietnam War protests changed
everything. Young people, referred to as hippies, drifted to the Haight-Ashbury
district of San Francisco where marijuana and heroin were plentiful.
Suddenly it wasn't just blacks and Mexicans that were into using illegal
drugs.
The Haight-Ashbury scene during the late 1960s
With the white
sons and daughters of middle and upper class Americans being into drugs
we, of course, did not want them to be imprisoned. Thus we changed our
hard on drugs to a soft on drugs policy and were on the way to becoming
the leading nation in the use of illegal drugs.
Compare
that to the harsh drug policies of other nations. In Japan, drug users,
if convicted, are confined in either a drug rehabilitation program or
imprisoned. In Indonesia and Malasia, drug users are imprisoned and drug
dealers are executed.
In
the Philippines, Former President Rodrigo Duterte's drug policies were
so harsh that they were publicly condemned by President Barack Obama. In
return, Dutertr called Obama a son of a bitch, causing the American
president to cancel a schduled visit to the Philippines.
Former
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called Barack Obama a son of a
bitch after the American president had condemned his harsh drug policies
That
is not to say that Japan, Indonesia, Malasia and the Philippines do not
have a drug problem, but the problem in those countries is negligible
compared to America's problem.
Since
most of the illegal drugs in the U.S. prior to the 1960s originated in
Mexico, it follows that the increased demand for drugs resulting from
the counter culture would be met by suppliers in Mexico. That led to the
rise of drug cartels, of which the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) are the two most powerful today.
Areas controlled by Mexico's drug cartels in 2022
Sinaloa cartel co-founder and current leader Ismael “El Mayo”
Zambada, along with El Chapo's son Joaquín Guzmán López, was tricked
into believing his plane was landing in northern Mexico when in fact it
landed in El Paso where he and El Chapo's son were captured by the FBI
on July 25, 2024
The
imprisonment of El Chapo did not bring about an end to the Sinaloa
Cartel and the capture of El Mayo will not bring about its downfall
either. There may be a bloody contention for the cartel's leadership,
but a new leader will emerge and the cartel will continue to flourish.
The
insatiable hunger for drugs by Americans gave rise to the Mexican drug
cartels and continues to keep them in a profitable business. We cannot
blame Mexico for the drug mess in both our countries. We ourselves
created the cartels with our failure to crack down on illicit drug users
and the dramatic increase in the demand for drugs like marijuana,
heroin, cocaine and meth that resulted therefrom.
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