The Mexican Cartel turning over the 5 kidnappers and writing an apology note is pretty wild. One part "don't want this smoke," one part "these guys are too stupid to be allowed to be confused with our standards."
I was hearing left and right wing folks ready to get medieval on them, I guess the cartel heard it too.
If anyone remembers from the original Narcos series the main character talking about the Enrique Camarena killing. He was a DEA agent tortured and murdered by the Guadalajara cartel in the 80s and we reigned down a ton of shit on them to shut them down. Someone else took their place, of course, but the word got out to not [uck fay] with DEA agents.
For those that haven't watched Narcos Mexico was awesome. I didn't know the story of Miguel Felix Gallardo prior to that.
I have to assume the only reason we haven't is there are too many powerful interests in America that don't want it to happen. Kidnappings are nothing compared to what they are doing every single day.
But these were Americans, not in any criminal activity (in "the game," as Breaking Bad put it), targeted deliberately. That is not happening every day.
A lot of people die every single day from Fentanyl brought across the border by cartels. Most of those people are not folks that you or I would consider "in the game". I appreciate there are some distinctions to be made between the kidnapping & fentanyl deaths, but I would object to the notion that even 100 kidnapping deaths should justify getting biblical on the cartels if what's already happening and has been for years doesn't.
Like a season of the Wire, Mexico. People getting paid and cartels are supposed to keep the violence in house for allowing them keep control
Guy I worked with from Mexico told me highly disturbing childhood stories from his hometown such as seeing the heads of an entire family on spikes set up along the bridge he had to cross on his daily walk to school accompanied with a sign that said “this is what happens to rats”. Cartel beheaded a “rat” and his entire family and used their decapitated heads as warning and reminder to the entire community as to who was in charge of that city. Mexico is a whole different world we gringos can’t even fathom.
They exist because “the cartel” is intertwined into every aspect of Mexican society. It’s not just about the illegal stuff. They own and control almost all of the legitimate industries too. They also fund virtually every Mexican politician. Almost impossible to “rid” that country of “the cartel” completely when they own the entire Mexican government and economy.
I could see a U.S. war with the cartel ultimately playing out like these Middle Eastern wars we’ve inserted ourselves into. For every cartel “terrorist” we kill, 10 more cartel “terrorists” are created and radicalized in their place. Kill the father today, worry about all his sons down the road who will forever see the United States as an entity that represents evil. A boots on the ground war with the cartel would be incredibly ugly. Hard to fight against an “enemy” who does not even wear an identifiable uniform.
Eh, I don't know about all that. It's a long way from a pocket full of pesos to 72 virgins. The funding for each is different, and it's right next door. I still favor staying out of it.
I don't even know exactly if I'm against or for it yet. Lots to ponder there on what a US led war vs the people who run the country next door would actually entail. However there is no denying it is a crying ass shame that we allow our border to be run by thugs who *LITERALLY* rape and extort migrants that have no problem green lighting the poisoning of the American population with their fentanyl laced drugs. All I'm saying is an all out "boots on the ground" clash with the Cartel would likely be a much messier and prolonged quandary of an affair riddled with more unintended consequences than most anyone on our side of the border can even fathom. Countless innocent civilians would be killed which would galvanize many down there to hate all things USA. Mexican-American relationship would fundamentally never be the same. Another thing to think about: if we went all out warfare with the Cartels, you cannot convince me there would not be numerous deadly terrorist attacks on our side of the border as well for retribution. "The Cartel" will not go out without taking as many people as they possibly can with them to the grave.
