In the past four years, Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s ‘War on Drugs’ has cost more than 28,000 people their lives, according to a CNN report.
While 90 to 95 percent of the fatalities are amongst drug cartels, Mexicans and several Americans in border towns have fallen victims to the drug violence in daily shootouts, chases, kidnappings and blockades.
The U.S. Department of State Bureau and Consular Affairs’ July 15 travel warning informs Americans about Mexican border towns that experience daily firefights.
Seven out of the twelve 12 deadliest border towns are close neighbors of Texas – Juarez, Chihuahua City, Pierdas Negras, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Monterrey. Many SMU faculty, staff and students have family in these border towns.
The border town of Juarez, just south of El Paso, Texas, is the murder capital of the world with 2,600 deaths last year and is expected to surpass 3,000 fatalities this year, according to CBS News.
SMU coordinator of Latin Student Services and Advisor to Latin Student Organizations in the Student Activities and Multicultural Student Affairs office, Fernando Salazar, has family in Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas.
“I love Mexico and I love to travel in Mexico, but the recent violence does not help, and I decided to stay home this summer [rather] than crossing the border to visit family,” Salazar said in an e-mail interview. Cristina, (who requested to not use her last name), who works at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, also has family and close friends in the deadly city.
Cristina’s friends in Juarez have been robbed at gunpoint in their cars while at a stoplight and in front of and inside their homes—once at 4 a.m. while they slept.
Her father has migrated to El Paso after he lost his business to the drug war but still pays a price for protection.
“My dad and those who still have offices along this avenue have to pay a fee to the federal government for protection so that the avenue is not utilized for shootings and car chases between the military and the cartels,” Cristina said in an e-mail interview. “The fee also provides protection in case of car bombs and possible arson. Those that did not pay had their business broken into or set on fire unanimously.”
Despite border town violence and the continuing “War on Drugs,” SMU’s study abroad programs for Xalapa and Oaxaca, Mexico continue.
Veronica Leon, SMU Spanish adviser and director of SMU-in-Xalapa, said that tourism in Mexico is not happening along the border, just as violence along the border is not happening in Xalapa.
“I felt very safe and safe for my students,” Leon said. “We felt like we were walking in an ideal traditional Mexico – Xalapa is another world.”
Leon’s family and close relatives reside in Monterrey – one of the U.S. Department of State’s border hot spots.
In the old days, years ago, people used to go to the border to have a good time, eat Mexican food, have a Margarita and buy a piñata, but it’s not happening now who wants to come now?” Leon said.
Oscar Ruiz, SMU senior and Spanish major, studied abroad in Xalapa this summer and has grandparents who reside in Mexico. In an e-mail interview, Ruiz said he tries not to let the issues along the border affect his perspective of his “beautiful country.”
“Studying abroad in Xalapa this summer made me realize that the extremity of drug violence, such as in Juarez or Nuevo Leon, has not reached the southern parts of Mexico,” Ruiz said.
According to a CBS News report, American weapons and the American market are fueling Mexico’s violence.
Of 75,000 guns seized in Mexico, 80 percent came from the U.S. The lucrative drug business produces an estimated $40 billion for Mexican drug cartels – virtually all for U.S. consumers.
The report states, “$40 billion is nearly as much revenue that Pepsi collected last year.” This means that Americans are consuming as much drugs as they do Pepsi.
“These drugs are being bought and distributed in the U.S.A, and they are killing in Mexico, and it seems that no one in America is worried about it,” Leon said.
Ruiz said he hates the drug violence issue, the innocent lives it’s affecting and the negative image it creates of Mexico.
“I would like to see Mexico’s political leaders take action against this, but I know there is a lot of corruption in the government and many benefit from the drug cartels,” he said.
SAMSA’s Salazar said he believes that the drug war is part of America’s responsibility.
“The Mexican president, I feel is doing the best he can do, but he does need help,” Salazar said. “It is an international community issue, not just a Mexican issue.”
Cristina said she doesn’t know what it would take for America to get involved with or without “permission” from the Mexican government and believes Mexico needs the technologically savvy instruments of the U.S. to help crack down on the cartels.
“Honestly, the U.S. would be a great help, but we also know that this country can’t be the world’s Superman and save everyone from harm,” Cristina said. “The U.S. has its own battles to fight.”
