Mexican Drug War

Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, also known as 'Tony Tormenta,' the highest-profile leader of a powerful drug trafficking organization, was gunned down by Mexican government forces this weekend, but signs that the death will lead to more violence and turf battles have terrified residents.

While some Mexicans expressed relief that California’s Proposition 19 was defeated in Tuesday’s election, others felt that the fight in Mexico was just beginning. The proposition, which essentially would have legalized marijuana in California, had a renewed sense of urgency south of the border, where the body count in the government’s crusade against drug trafficking organizations continues to rise.

Erika De La Garza, program director of the Latin American Initiative at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice, and William Martin, the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Senior Fellow in Religion and Public Policy at the Baker Institute, opine on the general failures of drug prohibition and what direction Latin America should go.

A University of Texas-El Paso student died from a shooting attack on a car in Ciudad Juarez, making him the fifth American slain in the violent border city this week.

It was in February 2007 that Amnesty International raised concerns over Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s decision, two months earlier, to send thousands of troops across the country to attempt to control Mexico’s spiraling drug prohibition violence. Echoing worries voiced by the United Nations, the rights group warned that sending the army onto Mexican streets to do the job of the police was a bad idea. Almost four years into the fight, it would seem Amnesty, the U.N. and a host of other rights groups were right.

Authorities have dug at least 18 bodies out of the grave. Authorities found a note saying a "narco grave" was on the site.

According to the U.S. Department of State, 92 Americans have been reported as victims of homicide in Mexico from June 2009 to June 2010. On September 10, the agency issued a travel warning for Americans planning to head to Mexico. It warned against taking unnecessary trips to Michoacán, Tamaulipas, parts of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila because of the ongoing drug prohibition violence.

The Peten jungle, once known for its jaguars and Mayan ruins, has fallen prey to a notorious Mexican drug prohibition gang that operates from remote jungle ranches and has begun openly challenging Guatemalan security forces for control of the roads.