Reminds me of Cuba before the revolution.
Lawless.

I was also born and raised on the border, in my case on the mexican side, Reynosa, which nowdays aspires to a violence level rivaling that of the mentioned cities. One thing is going on vacations to city for a few days once in awhile, another is actually living the hell around you every day, feeling completley helpless and trying to avoid being affected by it. Can someone imagine that; growing in that environment?

Ignorance, greed and lack of civility are proabably the main cause of what is going on there, but its origin is somewhere else, which is the main reason for this so called narco-wars. This groups fight each other to control the flow of a product which is high demand on the other side of the mexican border, and all to often civilians get caught in the middle. Even if the goverment wants to do something about it, by putting the army on the streets, it won't go away until the demand for drugs is stopped in the USA, which is not going to happen in the near future. Few days ago, on february 17, there was a shoot on the streets of Reynosa, with several deaths, with some children among them. This is the army and the cartels doing their bid to secure the bottom line: their own survival. This is now a everyday event. But nobody cares, definitely not the drug users just across the border.

I remember having a discussion with some friends. I told them, in the comming 25 years this is going to look just like any other drug-driven economy, and that the best thing to do was to move away. Now days, I live in Stockholm, Sweden, where all of this is close to unthinkable. Now days my friends are trying to ends meet, even if they, like me, had a good university education across the border.

Twenty five years later, the Mexico I grew upp in seems so far away and like a childhood nightmare. But the nightmare returns now and then. If I had stay and work as a journalist over there, I probably wound't be writing this commentary today.

I am really looking forward to seeing this report by Mic Ware tonight. It is a shame that such violence is occuring and it seems that they can't do much to stop it. But with drugs always comes violence! The cartels are always trying to one up each other to show their dominance and who owns that territory.

It is scary really that something like that is going on in our own back yard so to speak! It'll be extremely hard to stop...the only way is to eradicate the drugs and cartels and that will be next to impossible!

Cindy..Ga.

Children are affected by their experiences differently than adults. We, the United States, have done not much to reach out to the younger generation and their families in Central and South America for the last 8 years. We, the United States, should greatly expand the Peace Corps in Central and South America. We should help build schools and greatly expand economic opportunities south of the border.
We should also stop the anti immigrant talk as well. If you were to listen to a talk radio host that comes on in the evening, you would hear great deal of anti immigrant talk. Who knows how some people may react to such hate talk? I thought it is illegal to yell fire in a theater.
We, the United States, need to show by our rhetoric and actions, we are not against the people south of the border. Otherwise, just like a cancer, which metastasize good cells, we will lose the next generation of immigrants to people like the members of the drug cartel.

I lived in El Paso for more than 20 years. I used to go to Juarez with my father to the Mercado and shop. I loved eating at the small diners there, they had the best food. I did go over after hours to party sometimes as well. It was a better time. I agree, it is not the Mexico that I knew.

I grew up in Laredo,Tx. Crossing the border to shop and party was common. The violence that has errupted along the border leaves me numb. My father still has business in Mexico and travels frequently. I worry. God help that country and it's people.

There are countless problems with Mexico. The biggest problem is the people’s dependence on the Catholic Church and its teachings that the worst off you are the greater the rewards in heaven. It makes government corruption and the abusive class system more tolerable and even acceptable. I think this issue is at the core of problems from Mexico and from there South. It is no coincidence that the only prosperous and truly democratic nations in this hemisphere also happen to be Protestants.

Mexico has some of the World’s most liberal laws when it comes to drug abuse, pretty much little or no prosecution of drug users. It also has no death penalty for convicted murderers. Further, Mexico has all but outlawed gun ownership by its citizenry in the last 100 years. Isn’t this the very ideas that some of our American leaders are proposing before Congress? If Mexico is what these so-called leaders hope to become, we are in serious trouble.

I was stationed in Fort Bliss back in the 70's when we had fully combat loaded tanks pointed towards Mexico. Back then we were waiting for the Russians to come over the border,they never did. We need to do the same now,this time to keep drug cartels and God only knows what other criminal/terrorist elements from killing innocent people.

We all have our Mexico--times are changing-I only wish it was for the better.

My wife was deported and my kids all US citizen had to drop school as they want to be with my wife , now they are living in such of dangerous enviroment as my wife is being denied of a visa for her to move with us in Maine.Very stresfull as I saw what is going on in Juarez and petrified that any of my children or my wife can be caught in the midle of that violence surrounding that area.

We should treat these as single murders so nothing too rash is proposed as the only solution. The USA is known for retaliation. The Government agentcies have been hijacked by the offshore banks so it's whats good for the banks not the people.

I grew up further south on the border of Texas and Mexico...my family still lives there. It is disturbing to know that some of these drug cartel members are inbedded on the United States border. My family has communicated some situations that close friends and family members have encountered while traveling into Mexico. It is all together a scary situation. I believe that these issues are too close to home not to have the United States involved in some manner or another, especially when some of these people actually live in the United States.

It has become very bad/ The border fence has, in some ways, created some of this by forcing more passage at the small border towns.

But the corrupt Mexican Government was ultimately the cause of the demise of that entire country.
Greedy politicians lining the pockets of powerful people and visa-versa have left the Mexican people out in the cold.

Sound familiar?

The American people have to worry even more when Barack Hussein Obama opens the borders to make it easier for illegal aliens to cross. I noticed that Obama has not said one word about securing the borders. He has no interest in protecting the border.

The violence is worsening because of several reasons. Firstly, the crackdown on drug trafficking is working. Thugs who used to rely on a steady supply of drug money from the US are being cut off and they are resorting to greater levels of violence to intimidate local police so they can resume the flow of drugs across the border.

The length these people will go to is inhuman. A few months back, a girl was kidnapped from a Tijuana bar. She was used as a drug mule. Thugs gutted her and filled her freshly killed body with drugs. A border agent with a keen eye noted that the sleeping girl resting her head on her boyfriend's shoulder in the car didn't look right. It had been only hours between her kidnapping and the time the thugs tried to cross the border with her.

One of the local druglords is absolutely crazy. His method of intimidation is to behead his enemies and lay the bodies on the ground in public areas using the bodies to spell out the initials of his gang.

The second reason the violence has escalated is because the US economy is doing so poorly. There are more illegal immigrants leaving California than entering it now – there are no jobs to be had in the state. All these desperate people often turn to gangs.

Mexico is the way it is because of a deep legacy of corruption in the government and law enforcement. If you're a clean cop, you should be scared. If you're a tourist, stay away for awhile. It's so bad in Tijuana that charity organizations are advising church groups to suspend missionary work until the situation improves. I've got a friend who is a missionary down there and she tells me to stay in the US because it's just too dangerous. I collect supplies for her on this side of the border and she distributes them in Mexico. I pray every day that God keeps her protected.

@ G. Martinez citizens in China and Hong Kong are not allowed to carry guns much less own them and they don't have that type of killing. Scrap that and acknowledge what is really going on – the drug cartels own Mexico and the citizens allowed it. Instead of marching over there and demanding their country back and changing it, they choose to break U.S. law and cross the border to march over here and demand to become citizens. It disgusts me to no end that Mexicans have this entitlement issue to live in the U.S. without going through the proper channels and bringing that mess over here. Since 2001 the U.S. has spent over a billion dollars incarcerating illegals when they should be wreaking havoc in their own country.

Yes, GF, China is a bastion of peace and love. Well, unless you are a Buddhist or student demanding more freedoms and don’t mind an army tank running you over. China is yet another example of how giving your rights for the sake of a free lunch or for any other reason can have terrible consequences in a society.

China has the World’s strictest gun laws. The Chinese Communist will shoot you in the head for simply having bullets in your position. Still China has some of the World’s toughest, meanest, and most violent armed to the teeth drug gangs in the World. In China, as is the case also in Mexico, the only people armed are the corrupt government officials and the criminal gangs. The honest people of these poor countries simply wait around to be shot or run over by an army tank.

I have lived in El Paso for 28 of my 34 years. I have lived first hand
the changes that have been taking place in Juarez for the past couple of years. I don't think the rest of the United States, nor does the government understand the danger Americans are in because of the cartel wars across the border. From my window at work I have the international bridge. I see the traffic flowing in Juarez. We are literally a rocks throw from this violence. There have already been death threats, violence, and arson cases in El Paso Texas linked to this cartel war in Juarez! It is spreading into the U.S. and I do not see our police force or our government taking this threat very seriously.
We are worried about Alkaeda when Mexico's turmoil is already in the U.S. Our terror threat IS Mexico! There have already been American casualties in their war! Can someone in Washington please look past their blind spot and see that we, the Americans living along the border with Mexico, are scared and we are in the direct line of fire! These people are worst than Alkaeda, these people are killing, torturing, harassing, exploiting, beheading, blackmailing, and kidnapping for control over a border entrance to the U.S. They have told kindergartens, hospitals, and daycares that they must pay a certain quota per month, per student, and per teacher or they will start to kill the students! What is this!?
I am glad that the media is starting to take notice of this because the rest of the country is blind to it when they should not be. This violence has already spread into Arizona and states in the mid west where you would never think this would happen.

I live this violence every day. The most frightening thing is not the drug cartel war. What is really bad for the people in Juarez is that ex-drug dealers that can't do trafficking anymore are surviving through kidnapping, extortion, stealing, car jacking, etc.

The government says it is fighting against drug cartels, but they forget about what this is doing to regular people. I think we were better off when there was peace between the government and the cartels.

Politicians need to understand that drug trafficking won't go away unless the United States is moved to another part of the map.

I agree. There are serious problems. A lot of Mexico's economy was/is driven by money people earn in the US and send to family in Mexico. As jobs decline and less money flows in, people are getting desperate to support their families.

However, the problem is with the government. What is needed is an uprising by the people to drive the drugs and corruption out of Mexico. Sitting around and waiting for someone else to do something isn't going to work.

Opening the US borders isn't the solution either. How do you know who you're letting in? There are already "farms" in our national forrests and mountains where illegals are tending crops IN THIS COUNTRY. As usual, there are those who have written that it's America's fault and problem to fix. When will the people of Mexico take responsibility for their own fate? You will always have drug use no matter where you go, but that's not the cause of Mexico's problems, only a symptom of it.

For decades my church has traveled to Juarez at least twice a year, serving the needs of the people who live in the midst of a dump, the small colonia churches and an orphanage. We brought doctors, construction people, sewing machines, cloth, hygiene supplies, etc. We brought Vacation Bible School, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We did not go in 2008. Painfully we accepted the fact that It was deemed too unsafe. The El Paso doctor who began these missions had to stop crossing the border for more than a month last year because of death threats against him. So you see, the unspeakable violence that has gripped this town now extends beyond police and public official targets. This madness extends beyond the drug cartels. Now any thug wanting bragging rights has siezed the opportunity afforded by the civil disorder.

Contrary to the belief that some hold on to in order to justify their own failures in life, Mexicans or other such immigrants are not the terrible corruption that is eating at this great nation. Putting ridiculous rhetoric aside, this has always been a nation of immigrants. These silly arguments and race hate were being made about the Irish, Jews, Chinese, etc. way before any of the hate mongers of today were born. Just as the Irish, Jews, Chinese, etc. help make this country great, so will Mexicans, Cubans, Argentineans, etc. All they need is the opportunity without excuses.

I currently live in El Paso, Tx and its sad to hear these stories EVERYDAY. Its sad because it stopped being so shocking for us here in the border, its becoming too common. Juarez, MX has always been in the limelight and not for good reasons. Here on the border though, I, personally still feel safe. And I credit our police officers, sherriff's dept and our border patrol agents that make sure the violence does not spill over.
So kudos to CNN for shedding some light to the violence in hope that this madness ends soon. I still have family in Juarez and i often pray that they keep safe.

This issue of immigration is a perfect example of how ridiculous we have become as a society, as a people. Blaming the least able to make any decision on the course of the economy or politics for what ills us today is ludicrous. Immigrants, and especially illegal immigrants, are the most marginalized segment of our population. They are abused to the 10th degree by our society, which claims not to want them but so readily puts them to work to build our cities, care for our elderly, and perform those jobs, that YES, the most privileged and self-absorbed of all of the American generations is unwilling to do.

A fraction of available voters vote and we blame the immigrant. 360 billion of tax payer dollars went to friends and family of the former administration working in the banking industry and as a people we blame immigrants. The lazy and inept US union worker makes cars that are useless in tree years or teaches in a public school that turns out students that are only good for the fast food industry and we blame the immigrant.

Bernie Maddoff $50 billion Ponzi scheme was not orchestrated by a Mexican immigrant. Michael Milken before him was not Hispanic. George Bush and Dick Cheney, two former OIL MEN, went to war and succeeded in only killing some 5,000 American boys and girls in their scheme to take an oil rich country, were they immigrants? Oh yes Bush and his boss, Cheney also spent 100’s of billions of tax dollars to do this dirty thing. Still some people, who are full of hate and looking for something or someone to blame, want, need to blame the least of us all. These peopel need a scapegoat and their corrupt leaders are more then eager to give it to them.

In the immortal words of Eazy-E, “Don’t believe the hype!”

@ G. Martinez no one is opposed to LEGAL immigration of any race. However the Latino population has chosen to ignore coming to this country legally and is demanding to become citizens of this country just because they jumped the border. Since 1996 over $300 billion dollars ($14 billion here in CA) have been given to illegals to support them through social services (welfare), education, and medical care. The president of Mexico is more than happy to have his citizens living off of this country and our prison system (over a billion spent since 2001). Mexico has many problems and it's not fair that it's coming over into here and this government is doing nothing about it.

Legalize or decriminalize marijuana. And no, I don't smoke pot.

We hope things get better. When I read it over I felt uneasy. but it must
just get better.

I think Calderon's policy toward the cartels is spot on. This is not the time to change policy and send a signal to the cartels that you have weakened in the wake of the murders. Legalizing drugs is not the answer, it will only result in a sizable portion of the population being stoned and unable to contribute to society and to the Mexican economy. This period represents a civil war in Mexico that was always present, just not at such a level. The cartels have reacted because they are finally under attack. Mexico's future role in the global economy is at stake and a victory by the cartels will be disastrous to the people of Mexico. The U.S. and Mexican governments need to work together, more than they are, to destroy the cartels and ensure Mexico's future.

The truly innocent are the citizens of both sides of the border that just happen to be in the way of supply and demand. I truly hope that, as many of you would like, you manage to close the border to drug trade and anything/anyone else that bothers your collective sensitivities.

Now, reality dictates that since demand will still be present, supply will hopefully reestablish itself inside your country and the killing can move closer to the users that are ultimately responsible for this in the first place. Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it. What? You think that a trillion dollar industry can't afford to buy U.S. law enforcement? It's just cheaper down south at the moment.

Ship all bankers, CEO's, and oh hell, republicans, to Mexico and let the good people who wish to come here to make a life come on up.

If Americans would stop snorting, puffing, inhaling, and injecting illegal drugs – but who am I kidding, there are a bunch of highly placed U.S. citizens who are making millions off the blood of the innocent. Too many rich smile at the addictions of the poor and hopeless – it is what sends their children to Ivy League schools, pays for their mansions by the sea, and lines their Swiss bank accounts with green.

Your reporter blew everything out of proportion, we are not in a civil war. I cross the border everyday and we are just fine! our son goes to school in Mexico and we live on the US side. Your reporter made Mexico look very bad, those morgue camera shots look to me like... maybe East L.A.?, the cops...any city in Texas? we are not shooting at each other on the streets or anything like that, just ask the thousands of winter visitors that cross everyday like me to receive medical care at an affordable price, from all over the US and Canada. Me and my American Born Husband think your piece was aimed to scare tourism from coming to visit this absolutely friendly and beautiful country.

I'm glad Cnn took notice of Mexico's drug war. What really concerns me is that Michael Ware said at the end of the segment that this war will not end because it is driven by U.S. CONSUMPTION and fought with U.S. weapons smuggled back into Mexico, Anderson Cooper had no comment after that and quickly ended the segment. Shame on you everyone is affected by the use of illegal drugs U.S. should also take responsibility.

i know this is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA & if i had shot someone in the rear end let alone tried to hide from it regardless who it is i would have been sentenced and served whatever time i was required to serve. and if i stole $500 from someone i would not be at home on house arrest. maybe i'm wrong for thinking the way i do. i understand that there are some really bad things and ppl over there i have also lived over there, but there are also some really bad ppl and things here too

My husband and I were in Juarez 2 days this week for dental work. We saw increased police presence, but nothing else out of the ordinary. We never felt threatened or endangered.

Why are we still at war with Mexico? I mean, really? When you think about it, we may as well be. Our national guard could be helping out in a time like this, except our relationship with Mexico is so strained and is it any wonder why? We treat them like crap and they treat us with contempt in return. It's a vicious cycle. If only the US and Mexico could get along the way the US and Canada get along. But we really haven't tried to do anything for Mexico. Except for we took a huge chunk of their land, but that's about it. Then a lot of Americans also look down on the Mexican people because they have brown skin and don't speak English. It's really time to end this silent war on Mexico. We should be much closer allies with them and vice versa.

Listen the major reason for all this violence across latin america, is the insatiable thirst for drugs in the US. As long as the US population
continues to consume drugs there will be someone who will supply
them, by any means possible. we are responsible for this violence and yes it will come knocking on our doors and we will become a
police state, because we think that by having more tougher laws and
more police/soldiers and all kinds of gadgets we will stop it,

Almost worse than the violence in Mexico are the Americans' being taken advantage of by Mexican politicians and developers. I lost a ton of money trying to buy a condo in a development lead by the head of the Baja Norte's developers association, Gabriel Robles, and it turns out that he's never built a thing on his own in his life. The guy set up the whole association and it turns out it was a front for developments that would never be built. Me and a bunch of other buyers are out all our deposit money, the mayor of Rosarito, Hugo Torres is behind the scam, as well. Worse, a few American realtors Irene and Robert Donnell knew the developer was a scammer, following him around 3 developments that never happened and were all too please to tell me what a hero Robles was until my commission was gone, the development not happening, and me broker....then they never answered my calls. I'm out over $40k and they all got paid with my deposit money and are nowhere to be found.

Mexico...best we build a wall and leave it to it's own devices!

don´t forget all of you that if Mexico is going thru this problems is because in the United States a good part of their citizens consume drugs and more, we just happen to be betwen colombia and you guys, and stop worring what happens somewhere else and just checkout your neighborhoods my name is Jose Luis Cisneros and I can tellyou that most of us live clean good lifes. I watch your program everyday and i love it but I don´t like when you guys bring out only the negative.

This is prohibition all over again.

People seem to think we can succeed with drugs where we could
not with alcohol. It is not happening, and it never will.

The drug cartels and their violence are not the problem they are
the symptom. It is our outdated drug laws that are the problem. They
create the opportunity for the cartels, just like our prohibition laws
created the opportunity for the gangsters.

Make drugs legal and the crime will disappear. End of story. Period.

I think V. Diaz has a great point here: How many people posting on this board have used illegal drugs? How many still do? Isn't the drug war, at its heart, a supply and demand problem? Isn't most of the money funding the power-hungry cartels coming from the pockets of the people of this country? The other day I was at a person's house and they had a bag of weed laying in the open on a shelf. I talked to a friend who is a cop and he said there's really nothing they can do unless they are selling it. I wonder if they'd still get a good high if some of that dead officer's blood were on that bag. Of if they had to explain themselves to his orphaned children.

We can seize all the drugs we want and lock up all the dealers we find, but as long as it continues to be socially acceptable for everyone from college students to executives to consume the stuff, nothing will really change for the better. Sure, making drugs legal could theoretically undercut the cartels. Successfully making that kind of transition, however, would be a lot harder than working on reducing the demand.

I'm glad to see light being shed on this issue by the media. I think it might actually save a few lives if the media could give it more attention. And while they're at it, throw in this caveat: "if you've recently purchased drugs, here is how some of your money is being used."

Just a thought.

Where is the outrage in the USA? Is it not your insatiable lust for drugs that has fueled these criminals. Are not all the guns being used in the killing of the innocent illegally smuggled into Mexico? Americans are so smug to always blame the immigrant when their is trouble at home, the Mexicans have the same argument. Your beloved best and brightest in your Universities are some of the main users, yet nothing is said, where is your demand that the US government stop gun retailers from controlling the gun flow.

Americans are the cause of this. They wouldn't be fighting to bring drugs to the United States if Americans didn't want them. Put the blame where it belongs.

Americans, has a mexican I beg you... stop buying cocaine.

I am amazed that no one has done what needs to be done. When you have a cancer you remove it or you kill it. I don't care how many guns they have, you have a quick trial and then you hang them. Mexico needs to do bad things to some very bad people. Texas was the home of outlaws and indians who would torture and kill innocent people. The rope and the gun brought order to the west. Mexico is no different, the modern wild west.

It is the demand of illegal drugs in the US that is fueling this violence. Legalizing marajuana won't help. Mexico is one of the world's top producers of methamphetamine, although pseudoephedrine is supposed to be banned from the nation. Cocaine is run through Mexico by the cartels as a link between South America and the US.

If you really compare the Mexican situation with Canada, you see where the blame lies. Canada is the US supplier of MDMA (ecstasy). You don't see this violence at the Canadian border. Why? The Canadian government has been successful at rooting out corruption.

Forget the "war the drugs", legalize it. Didn't we learn anything from prohibition? Sadly, most US citizens blame Mexico for their drug problem.

The US consumes more than their share of drugs per capita, just like our "addiction to oil" We are also addicted to drugs. Just like oil, this addiction costs lives. Not only the wasted lives of users, but of the people across the border who aren't usually considered. It is far from a "victimless crime"

The war on drugs has left both countries worse off, billions of dallors spent fighting the wars, not to mention incarseration costs. Violence, guns and money for corruption flow south. All with no end in sight.

Why not get the pushers off the street, let physicians treat drug abusers, and "sin" tax the drugs to partially offset costs. Sadly, we won't save everyone, not even in our great society is this a realistic goal. But criminalizing it hasn't worked either.

The US has only to look in the mirror to see where part of the blame lays. Enough of the "war on drugs" and the exportation of that war to foreign soils like Mexico, Central and South America.

Time to build the wall and deport them all. We should have our military bases located along the border too. Good training.

Over and over people repeat, ... "The corrupt Mexican government," but that government is overwhelmingly supported by the people of Mexico - not unanimously, but enough that they're still in power.

Yes times are tough. That's no excuse.

Second, every single dime spent on killings in Mexico, comes from America. Using illegal drugs makes you an accessory to murder.

No don't legalize drugs. Don't support their use.

This wouldn't be the "monster" that it is, in Mexico or anywhere, were it not for the cops, politicians and judges on the take, as well as the money-laundering banks. Sure there are good guys and victims, but pleez, let's not kid ourselves about the role of corruption at every level in this.

What happened in Chicago during prohibition? There was a violence between Al Capone and the likes of him. What ended the violence? It was not Eliot Ness, but the end of prohibition.

We should do the same again, end the prohibition. Install Government run clinics, where user can get good quality drugs for free and treatment if they want it. If we remove the incentive to make billions of dollars from the drug trade, the violence will end.

This situation was avoidable, at least in part. Our last administration focused all US efforts and finances on Iraq, leaving the drug lords next door, just over the border to gain momentum and go unchecked. We took our hands off the wheel. Cartels will take advantage of the slightest misstep in a country's leadership. They are swift and deadly. They are now using barbarian terror tactics in an attempt to force their own government to back off. If people are frightened badly enough, the drug lords become untouchable. If enough foreigners stay away and stop spending money on tourism in Mexico, the government will reduce pressure on them. In so many ways, this is a direct bi-product of careless behavior at a time when there is no room for error.

G Martinez your opinions on race, religion, and the socio economic situation are disgusting.
I grew up going across the border, my kids will not.

Boycott marijuana for a week. I am serious! Sure, marijuana is only a small part of the drug trade. Probably wouldn't work with heroin or meth as they are too addictive; but I could go a week w/o, no problem. Imagine if everyone that smokes pot just stopped buying, even for a couple days, the money lost would be in the milliions!! Just a thought....

This reminds me growing up in Colombia 20 years ago. Same issues, drug lords fighting each other and killing cops, car bombs and a just terrified citizens. The only way out was a strong government willing to crack down on them and some useful help of the US. Although it is not completely over yet at least it is much better and we can at least live a normal life.

It will get worse until it gets better...

Just a few facts:
1) The story of the dead girl stuffed with drugs has been a urban legend and internet rumor for years – it's fake.
2) Mexico is millions of square miles, if you take out tijanan, juarez and a couple other border towns, the majority of the country is far safer than public housing in most US cities.
3) professional kidnapers in mexico know there victims. They do not prey on toursist because they need to make at least 25-50k per kidnapping and target rich individuals (mostly business people) who they know can fork over that kind of dough.

So while yes the numbers are staggering, and the pagentry of cut off heads are dramatic, far less people die from a drug killing in Mexico as do car accidents in the US...

G.F., Los Angeles, people tried marching before, for better schools, the students' bodies to this day haven't all been found, marching is not going to help anything in Mexico, a revolution and lots of dead would probably be the only way.

This violence won't stop unless we legalize drugs. Period.

No criminal organization has risen to such heights of power if they haven't controlled a drug trade.

I don't relish the thought of letting junkies roam free but they're much more manageable and a public nuisance compared to the gangs that amass millions in cash (and in arms) who profit from the black market. It took decades to undo the damage to NY. LA and Chicago's political and law enforcement structures after we made alcohol an overnight source of extreme revenue.

And you will never, ever "win" the drug war. Hell, people make up new drugs or just sniff paint/glue if they can't find them. It's a never-ending path that gives these gangs money and ultimately power over law abiding citizens.

If Prohibition had not been repealed, the US be a nation run by Capone's and Luciano's right now.

I resent that comment against the Catholic Church wich does enormous amounts of good works all aver Latin America and the world.I've seen just as many corrupt and gangsta evangelists as I have catholics.Like it or not,the Catholic Church is part of the cultural identity of all Latin America no matter how many people you evangelists and mormons poach and mislead.Alot is the fault of the local Catholic Church themselves for loosing adherents but that is also due to lack of resources and many latin govts have hobbled the church in the past with restrictions.About the drugs,its the users here in the USA and Europe who are to blame,no users,no drug use then no cartels or cartel violence.Latin countries are paying the price of corruption,greed and neglect.Its so sad.

The violence in Mexico and the ever growing threat of drug violence against Mexico's sovereignty is a direct consequence of America's expensive habit for illegal drugs. If American's were not such glutenous pigs when it comes to snorting coke on weekends, lighting up crack in an alley, cranking up to drive a truck or tear off a roof – or because we're just bored, or looking for X at the slut puppy bar on every college campus in the country etc.etc. Mexico would still be the placid, beautiful and culturally rich place it once was.

Most of the citizens in central Mexico are in denial, about the violence that the country is having right now, and that makes this matter even worst. If the people does not want to see the problem, how are they going to do something about it.

Well legalizing pot might be a good idea, but can pot replace the hard drugs that addicts crave?

Juarez and some of the other border towns are extremely dangerous but it is not omnipresent through out Mexico. This is another example of sensational journalism that doesn't cover all the bases. For example, CNN ran an article about the dangers of kidnapping in Mexico a few months back and everyone in the states now thinks they will be kidnapped if they go to mexico. I have lived in Guadalajara for years and the risk of getting kidnapped here is as low as it is anywhere in states. How many US citizens have actually gotten kidnapped here? Where is the data? Any major US city such as LA, Chicago, Philly, NYC, and Philly has examples of random people that get killed. What is the answer? Move back to the suburbs? Good luck.

I called in on c-span about 10 years ago when Senator Conyers returned from a trip to the cartels in Columbia. It was live call in.
My question was " How would the drug lords vote on legalizing drugs,
Yes or No, and how would you vote on legalizing drugs, yes or no.
I didnt get an answer. When drug lords were asked, they said No. It would put them out of business.
We need to revisit this option, On the local grocery store I saw that the Stevia Leaf was 50% more profitable than growing cocaine, and it;s legal. Use the billions for treatment centers and education rather than than the war on drugs. we are a free country. We cant do what other countries have done.Kill the cocaine users, which worrks there,

My brother and I spent summer and Christmas vacations in central Mexico and as a result grew to appreciate and be very proud of our culture. We learned to appreciate the priviliges of being U.S. cit., but more importantly we learned how to adapt in a small town where electricity went out if storms were bad, where our clothes were hand-washed, where we roamed the entire town freely with cousins without fears of kidnappings, drugs or any of the fears that made my parents overprotective here in the U.S. My husband and I always imagined sending our children to Mexico so they may grow to have these same experiences and appreciation of their heritage and to love both countries. But after hearing and seeing how these criminals are taking over and instilling fear even in our small remote town, we don't feel safe going and will likely be canceling future trips much less will we be sending our children. The worst part is that friends and family I know are canceling routine trips as well, and this will definitely be affecting Mexico's already struggling economy. I don't even know what the U.S. can do, but they better do something. The media is finally addressing an issue that has been brewing in Mexico for a couple of years but I don't think our politicians are getting the seriousness of the affect this can and will have on our states this side of the border and eventually in all of the U.S. Of course they may see this as an issue they can move to the bottom of the list while they try to clean up the mess here at home. I don't know, maybe the world is coming to an end or maybe like a bad drug addict everything needs to hit rock bottom before it bounces back, but then again not all addicts recover. I hate to sound negative but I feel my life as well as so many others are being robbed of our right to visit our families, and to celebrate holidays as we always have. With a newborn and a toddler it is not worth the risk to be caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

G. Martinez ranting about the Bush and Cheney and the Iraq war, blaming the Catholic Church and implying Protestants are somehow superior.

Way to stay on point and relevant. You're a genius and you should be made king of the world.

By the way not one person in this thread is "blaming the immigrants". And the "$360 billion going to buddies of the the former administration". And your point is???? POh I see it now – Mexico's problems are indeed ORCHESTRATED by the racist Republicans. Thanks for your uncanny insight.

This is an interesting piece, hoever, it fails to mention Juarez's women. This is a serious issue that has been going on for way too long. Hundreds (some say thousands) of women who are working in sweat shop type factories are being exploited by cheap labor and are physically and sexually abused to death going to and from work. Yes, this drug war is violating many laws, however, the crisis of Juarez's women is violating human rights. Action needs to be taken. A piece on this issue would definately provide more awareness and more hope for aid.

I see we can send troops thousands of miles away to control and ffight wars for other people who are creating a danger for us in America, but we don't send troops to stop the war that is in walking distants of our borders. Whatever happened to Marshall Law. If it take this to stop people from bring drugs across the border, than this is what it takes. DO IT PERIOD,

I relocated to El Paso, TX with my family almost 3 years ago. We used to go over to Cd. Juarez often for good food and shopping. But no more. It is like a war zone My husband still has to cross the border everyday to manage an American interest there. There are many here like him. Keep showing America what's happening here everyday and just keeps getting worse.

America in fact, created the cartel problem. The U.S. still
insists on stupidly keeping marijuana illegal, despite that
alchohal, a more powerful intoxicant is legal. and available
for consumtion, and openly promoted as O.K. Also the root
of marijuana prohibition was to drive out Mexican imigrants
in the 1930's. this all started here in Texas. The cnn footage
of the confiscated contraband cleary shows pressed kilos
of marijuana. Although cocain and heroin no doubt play
a part in this, the main cash cow for these cartels seems to
be marijuana, a plant very hardy and easy to grow. a plant
that grew in almost every part of the u.s. before 1930. The
U.S. drug policy on marijuana is based on arcane moronic
stupidity, lies and un-truths. No better example of this
can be found than the re-clasification of marijuana as a
"psycadelic drug". marijuana is neither a "psycadelic" nor
"a powerful mind altering drug" in fact it might make you sleepy.
Lies when promoted as the truth always lead to utter
disaster, as in the iraq war. Is a little plant realy worth
all this murder and blood? tell me Anderson, this is
all hapening in my back yard where i raise my kids, while
are government plays games with reality and peoples
lives!! did i mention our national incarceration problem?
whatever a persons feeling about marijuana use,the
fact is the arcane laws against it wreak with hipocracy, and are by standard morally wrong, these laws case far
more damage to health lives and property than the
plant ever possibly could. Wake up america, or suffer
the consequences.

Well, Donna, that might be a very partial solution. Most of the drug money for Mexico, however, is coming from cocaine. Do we really want to legalize that? Can you imagine the destroyed lives? The societal problems we have with alcoholism and the health effects of cigarettes (to name two legal drugs) would pale in comparison. Absolutely pale.

And G. Martinez, you have some very valid points, but you are over-posting and sounding shrill, which is destroying your message. Try to post when you are less angry, and your arguments will be easier to hear.

By the time we realize how serious this is and how strongly it's going to impact the United States, it's going to have spilled over to our country as well. There are already killings happening in the United States as part of what's going on in Mexico (mainly in El Paso), but we've been lucky so far. If something isn't done that works, we're going to get a huge slap in the face.
Leaving this up to the Mexican army is not working. The time to use the army would've been *before* the cartels out-gunned them. The problem goes deeper as well. It goes to those officials who allow themselves to be threatened or bought into submission by the cartels.
The time to come up with a better solution is now. The longer we wait, the more carnage there will be.

My sympathies go out to those families who have been touched by the violence in Mexico. My prayers also go out to the families of the many innocent young women who have been kidnapped in Mexico and are still missing without any investigations being done.

I am from El Paso, TX, and Juarez was always referred to as its Sister City – if the US isn't careful, it will soon become a conjoined twin. I recall going into Juarez to party, being stopped by the policia without cause, and having to pay them off – they have their own special reputation. I remember two fellas that didn't know each other being accused for the same crime. The politicians using stolen vehicles. Juarez represents corruption from the bottom up. Don't kid yourself, there are many cartel within the ranks. Close off the border and implement stringent immigration laws (this would alleviate the drug running to the US users, too) and provide Mexico with support, as you would any third world country. Viva Mexico and Viva mi Amigo's from Mexico!

I am originally from South Texas and grew up in this region (Rio Grande Valley). For the past 2 years I've been living in Matamoros Mexico. It is disturbing to see the change this country is going through.
For far too many years the government in Mexico turned a blind eye to the cartels' entrenchment into the country. Now that a shift in focus by this new administration has caused problems for these cartels, an eruption in violence against law enforcement has been the result.
Local law enforcement has been ineffective due to corruption, intimidation, attacks, etc., leaving Calderon only one logical choice, the army.
It is just as disturbing to see the stance, or lack thereof, that the US government has chosen to take. I do believe that as coverage escalates the restructure of policy relations between the US & Mexico will have to be revamped to properly address the drug flow from Mexico to the US and the flow of weapons and drug money from the US to Mexico.

US can help and save Mexico if the Federal Government would legalize Marijuana. The US would be able to control distribution and collect taxes, which they love! The US would save billions in revenue, and in return – like gambling and taxes have a new source of revenue! Additionally, it would help the US failing economy, along with Mexico’s economy. The criminals would loose out completely!
But maybe our US leaders want the conflict on the war & drugs to continue, after all it justifies budgets!!

It is time that the US realizes that their drug addictions and what they believe to be "harmless" marijuana use is funding some of the most terrible violent criminals in the world. That a big proportion of the USA believes that an accomplished athlete just because he is 23, and won plenty of Gold medals, has the right to relax and enjoy some "harmless" dope is really shortsighted view of the world and the consequences of globalization. Every illegal drug user (including marijuana) in the USA should be asking for forgiveness to all the Mexican and Latin American people for funding this criminals and murderers with their recreational activities and the suffering their choices have brought to so many innocent people.
The best thing that could happen to Latin America is for the USA to legalize all kinds of drugs so they stop sending their money to these warlord criminals.