Increasingly, criminal groups in Mexico have been taking more and more control as they become part of communities, police forces, and even the government itself. Mexico's former defense minister was arrested in the United States this month, charged with helping drug cartels. However, this is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a trend of the Mexican government losing control. According to a 2018 CIA study, over 20% of Mexican territory is effectively controlled by criminal groups. Additionally, the Mexican homicide rate is more than 4 times that of the US, and over 77,000 people have disappeared this year alone. This has grown out of the US-Mexican strategy to combat crime. By removing the kingpins and heads of the major crime groups, we have caused them to splinter into potentially 231 different cartels, gangs, and regional bands all within Mexico. Since these smaller groups do not have the same kind of organization as the bigger groups, they are not able to export drugs as easily, so they have now turned to terrorizing the Mexican population itself. Unfortunately, police forces all across Mexico are outgunned and have no real way to fight back against the crime groups, so the problem is only getting worse.
By Claire Mikulcik
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/mexico-losing-control/mexico-violence-drug-cartels-zacatecas/
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