The United States' War on Drugs Has Had Monstrous Consequences in Mexico Alexandros Orphanides - The Huffington Post
go to original December 2, 2015

Mexico's war on drugs: Is it a losing battle? (Al Jazeera English)

Mexico's participation in this "war" has served as a political justification for repression and unbridled state violence. While state-sanctioned violence against citizens is not new to Mexico, the War on Drugs and the U.S. role in funding, participating, and supplying arms has pushed it to new highs as U.S. and Mexican agencies work both with and against cartels in an often-contradictory war.

As the journalist Roque Planas has pointed out on numerous occasions, the policy has made certain regions unlivable. Just last year, 43 teachers in training at Ayotzinapa Teachers' College participated in a protest against discriminatory hiring and school funding in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. The protest was met with an unreasonably high level of force, and the 43 were arrested, handed over to a gang, and have since disappeared. With two sets of remains identified, it is presumed that the rest have also been killed. This is just one example of officials utilizing relationships fostered by the War on Drugs to further political aims, maintain an oppressively unequal society, and repress the rights of citizens to redress their grievances.

As the U.S. backs a policy largely dictated by force, cartels, gangs, and government forces war with each other - innocent civilians are often caught in the crossfire or find themselves the direct targets of violence and coercion. Between 2006 and 2012, more than 60,000 people were killed in drug-related violence, including an alarming number of journalists killed by the cartels as well as law enforcement.

Read more of 'A World Without Refugees: Syria, Latin America, and U.S. Foreign Policy' on The Huffington Post

Related: David Agren: Still a Long Way to Go Before Marijuana Becomes Legal in Mexico (VICE)

Related: Is Smoking Weed a Human Right? Why the Mexican Supreme Court Thinks the Answer Is Yes (The Atlantic)

Related: War On Drugs Is Failing And Hammering The World’s Poor, Says Christian Charity (The Libertarian Republic)

Related: A Small Step for Mexico, a Big Step for Drug Policy (World Policy)

Related: Mexico One Step Closer to Legal Marijuana with Supreme Court Ruling (PanAm Post)

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