Updated 12:13 AM EST, Mon, Dec 23, 2024

Mexico's Drug War: Five Things More Important than El Chapo's Capture 

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The involvement of a famous Hollywood actor put the events of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in the spotlight. However, while his capture is no small feat, it does not mark the end of drugs and organized crime in Mexico. The drug war is bigger than the Sinaloa, and here are some things to remind us of that:

  1. High Profile Corruption -- The former head of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was arrested in Spain for money laundering, although he has maintained his innocence. Humberto Moreira was the former governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila, and has been facing embezzlement allegations. While his leadership cost the state about $35 billion in public debt, he's not the only high-profile politician to be facing such corruption charges -- Mexican daily Reforma noted that some 15 Mexican governors have been facing similar charges of different scales since 2010.
  2. Increase in the Number of Firearms -- About 70 percent of the confiscated firearms in Mexico between 2009 and 2014 are said to have originated from the United States. Many of them were purchased legally, but then smuggled into the country. Officials are said to be pressing the US to limit gun sales, but so far, the appeals have been fruitless.
  3. Abduction, Homicides, and Forced Disappearances -- There have been about 27,600 "forced disappearances" in Mexico in recent years. According to EL Daily Post, nobody is even looking for them. This brutal term see political opponents being abducted and killed, leaving no trace of their bodies. Groups like Amnesty International noted that Mexico's own security forces carried out many of these, including that of the Iguala abduction.
  4. The Assassination of a Mayor -- Texmico Mayor Gisela Mota is one of the politicians in Mexico who vowed to eradicate local drug gangs. Just one day after she took office, she was beaten and killed in her own home, allegedly by the Los Rojos drug cartel. While hers is the most publicized, La Jordana noted that about 100 mayors met the same fate in the decade since former President Felipe Calderon waged war on drug cartels.
  5. Judicial Reforms -- Mexico is on the way to revamping its criminal justice system by way of oral trials instead of the written testimonies, but so far, the change is slow. As of November, only eight states were able to implement the new justice system. However, Reforma noted that the transition should be done by July 18, which is the government's set deadline.

El Chapo's capture put a pin in the Sinaloa cartel's operations, but considering their wide network, even that will not stop the flow of the drugs in Mexico. 

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