Mexico's Drug War - Photos

[Dion]

There are 34 pictures in total. Warning - some are disturbing.

In December of 2006, Mexico's new President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug cartels, reversing earlier government passiveness. Since then, the government has made some gains, but at a heavy price - gun battles, assasinations, kidnappings, fights between rival cartels, and reprisals have resulted in over 9,500 deaths since December 2006 - over 5,300 killed last year alone. President Barack Obama recently announced extra agents were being deployed to the border and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Mexico today to pursue a broad diplomatic agenda - overshadowed now by spiraling drug violence and fears of greater cross-border spillover. Officials on both sides of the border are committed to stopping the violence, and stemming the flow of drugs heading north and guns and cash heading south.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/200..._drug_war.html



A forensic investigator in Tijuana examines a vertebra and other bone fragments that were all that remained of a human body recovered from a barrel of acid. The gruesome discovery in the Otay Mesa part of the city is consistent with a signature killing style of "El Teo", Tijuana's most wanted cartel kingpin. (Los Angeles Times photo by Don Bartletti)

[Yeah_Baby]

Some pretty graphic pictures in there.

[HotHotHeat]

Photo is?

[jolinar of malkshor]

And many on CP would tell you that drug use is a personal choice and a victimless crime.

[Igottago]

I dont really feel like checking out the pictures, but this drug war is absolutely insane. Its quite amazing the power struggle that goes on in this industry, and how ruthless the people involved can be. And I thought it was bad in the lower mainland...

[T@T]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

And many on CP would tell you that drug use is a personal choice and a victimless crime.

I'm not a fan of any drug but legalizing pot would help and making it a major crime to even get caught with the hardcore drugs (coke,herein..etc) might help somewhat. I know a girl that got caught with a gram of coke and the cop just squished it on the ground. Is she worried about having major drugs on her? As a matter of fack she was late for a party that night because she had to hunt down more.

[TSXCman]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

And many on CP would tell you that drug use is a personal choice and a victimless crime.

locally victimless for the most part.

their pot sucks too bad to die over anyway

[BuzzardsWife]

we were just in mexico for 2 weeks and felt very safe..then a week after we got back 9 heads were found in coolers beside the road, only about an hour drive from where we stayed..geeeesh

[Thor]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

And many on CP would tell you that drug use is a personal choice and a victimless crime.

It is if its legal and not funding and massive empowering criminal gangs all over the world.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Thor

It is if its legal and not funding and massive empowering criminal gangs all over the world.

Read "The Moral Sense" by James Q. Wilson. The guy makes a devastating critique of legalization of hard, addictive drugs.

I am a pretty libertarian person, I used to believe in the legalization of all drugs. This book totally changed my opinion, except in the case of marijuana and some hallucinogens. Wilson does not revert to moralizing but makes an explicit cost/benefit argument against legalization. Read it!

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by peter12

Read "The Moral Sense" by James Q. Wilson. The guy makes a devastating critique of legalization of hard, addictive drugs.

I am a pretty libertarian person, I used to believe in the legalization of all drugs. This book totally changed my opinion, except in the case of marijuana and some hallucinogens. Wilson does not revert to moralizing but makes an explicit cost/benefit argument against legalization. Read it!

Can you give us a quick idea of what he argues?

I don't think there's any case that hard drugs, legal or illegal, are good for anyone. Maybe that's just me but working near East Hastings and seeing daily a reminder of how these drugs disintegrate human life, has made me a strong opponent of ever making that stuff easy to come by.

Maybe the war on drugs, despite the difficulties, is worth fighting.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Can you give us a quick idea of what he argues?

I don't think there's any case that hard drugs, legal or illegal, are good for anyone. Maybe that's just me but working near East Hastings and seeing daily a reminder of how these drugs disintegrate human life, has made me a strong opponent of ever making that stuff easy to come by.

Maybe the war on drugs, despite the difficulties, is worth fighting.

Here's an article he wrote back in 2000 for Slate.com.

Hard to summarize, but basically a reasoned analysis of the social costs being greater than the legalization savings. Increased addicts, decreased production, spread of disease (such as HIV) facilitated by hard drugs etc...

Pretty damning quote here...

Now what happens? Here is where the only meaningful debate can exist. Do you think that there will be a decrease in drug crime? Maybe—if the crime committed by users seeking money to buy drugs and the dealers protecting their right to sell drugs falls by an amount greater than the increase in crime committed by addicted users who are no longer capable of holding a job. Not all coke or heroin addicts are incapacitated, but a significant fraction—perhaps one-fifth, perhaps more—are. Say we have 1 million users now, with 200,000 of them so dependent on the drug that they are useless for any activity, including holding a job. Now suppose after legalization we have 5 million users, with 1 million totally zonked.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by peter12

Here's an article he wrote back in 2000 for Slate.com.

Hard to summarize, but basically a reasoned analysis of the social costs being greater than the legalization savings. Increased addicts, decreased production, spread of disease (such as HIV) facilitated by hard drugs etc...

Pretty damning quote here...

Great article. I tend to agree, a world where these drugs are legal seems to open society up to many more problems, even worse than the crime we are dealing with now.

I'm still not sure about the marijuana debate either. Pretty tame drug, sure. But do we really want a society full of people getting high a lot? What are the repercussions of that? Not so sure it would be positive.

[prarieboy]

Police officers drive past a burning police vehicle in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009. Earlier, gunmen opened fire and hurled grenades at the patrol car in the Pacific resort town of Zihuatanejo, killing four officers.

Yikes......Zihuatanejo is a tourist area. I thought he problems were largely arournd the border and larger cities. I guess I won't tell my wife this as were traveling to Mexico soon.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Great article. I tend to agree, a world where these drugs are legal seems to open society up to many more problems, even worse than the crime we are dealing with now.

I'm still not sure about the marijuana debate either. Pretty tame drug, sure. But do we really want a society full of people getting high a lot? What are the repercussions of that? Not so sure it would be positive.

It's not the use of marijuana that is the devistating part on society, it is the organized criminal factor involved in it. Even if it is legalized and sold in stores, there will still be a criminal component to it. Maybe not as much in Canada but these same organized crime groups (assuming the government allows for the legalized cultivation of marijuana) will use this legal ability of growing marijuana in Canada to ship it around the world, creating and maintaining the same problem that is going on in central America.

[Azure]

I think education is more important to reducing the drug trade than legalization.

Also, this is the second top-notch picture story I've seen the Boston Globe put on. There is good reporting out there if you look for it.

[BavarianHorde]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

It's not the use of marijuana that is the devistating part on society, it is the organized criminal factor involved in it. Even if it is legalized and sold in stores, there will still be a criminal component to it. Maybe not as much in Canada but these same organized crime groups (assuming the government allows for the legalized cultivation of marijuana) will use this legal ability of growing marijuana in Canada to ship it around the world, creating and maintaining the same problem that is going on in central America.

There is the Hell's Angels and other biker gangs involved in it now.

It is a social issue, so often we put band-aids on things instead of fixing the root of the problem. It is a lot deeper the legalization. There is social, economic, and most importantly spiritual reasons for it.

Address those issues, and you will be on your way to solving the problem.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by BavarianHorde

There is the Hell's Angels and other biker gangs involved in it now.

It is a social issue, so often we put band-aids on things instead of fixing the root of the problem. It is a lot deeper the legalization. There is social, economic, and most importantly spiritual reasons for it.

Address those issues, and you will be on your way to solving the problem.

I didn't know it was so easy!

[BavarianHorde]

Originally Posted by peter12

I didn't know it was so easy!

I never said it was easy. But it is the first step.
I am sorry If I made it sound easy, that wasn't
my intention.

It is a heck of a lot better then fighting a war
that will not be won.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by BavarianHorde

I never said it was easy. But it is the first step.
I am sorry If I made it sound easy, that wasn't
my intention.

It is a heck of a lot better then fighting a war
that will not be won.

Agreed, but in the case of Mexico, where there is a significant danger of it becoming a narco-state, governments must place the security of their citizens above all else and that probably means open war, for a while, with the drug cartels.