{ "id": "R40582", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R40582", "active": false, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 350692, "date": "2009-05-27", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T02:28:37.513473", "title": "Mexico\u2019s Drug-Related Violence ", "summary": "Drug-related violence in Mexico has spiked in recent years as drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) have competed for control of smuggling routes into the United States. Drug trafficking issues are prominent in Mexico because the country has for at least four decades been among the most important producers and suppliers of heroin, marijuana and (later) methamphetamine to the U.S. market. Today it is the leading source of all three drugs and is now the leading transit country for cocaine coming from South America to the United States. Although previous Mexican governments had accommodated some drug trafficking in the country, when President Felipe Calder\u00f3n came into office in December 2006 he made battling the Mexican drug trafficking organizations a top priority. He has raised spending on security and sent thousands of troops and federal police to combat the DTOs in states along the U.S.-Mexico border and throughout the country. In response to the government\u2019s crackdown, the DTOs have responded with escalating violence.\nIn recent years, drug trafficking violence in Mexico has claimed thousands of lives and reached a level of intensity and ferocity that has exceeded previous periods of drug-related violence. The government\u2019s intensified campaign against the DTOs resulted in changes in the structure of these criminal organizations. The seven major DTOs in Mexico have reconfigured. The fracturing of some of the most powerful drug trafficking syndicates and the reemergence of once powerful DTOs have led to bloody conflict within and among the DTOs. Today a small number of DTOs control the lucrative drug trafficking corridors through which drugs flow north from Mexico into the United States and high-powered firearms and cash flow south fueling the narcotics trade.\nPresident Calder\u00f3n has demonstrated what has been characterized as an unprecedented willingness to cooperate with the United States on counterdrug measures. In October 2007, both countries announced the M\u00e9rida Initiative to combat drug trafficking, gangs and organized crime in Mexico and Central America. To date, the U.S. Congress has appropriated a total of $700 million for Mexico under the M\u00e9rida Initiative. The program, which combines counternarcotics equipment and training with rule of law and justice reform efforts, is still in its initial stages of implementation.\nThe scope of the drug violence and its location\u2014much of it in northern Mexico near the U.S.-Mexico border\u2014has been the subject of intense interest in Congress. The 111th Congress has held more than a dozen hearings dealing with the increased violence in Mexico as well as U.S. foreign assistance and border security efforts. This report examines the causes for the escalation of the violence in Mexico. It provides a brief overview of Mexico\u2019s counterdrug efforts, a description of the major DTOs, the causes and trends in the violence, the Calder\u00f3n government\u2019s efforts to crackdown on the DTOs, and the objectives and implementation of the M\u00e9rida Initiative as a response to the violence in Mexico. For related information about Mexico and the M\u00e9rida Initiative, see CRS Report RL32724, Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress, and CRS Report R40135, M\u00e9rida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: Funding and Policy Issues. For more information on international drug policy, see CRS Report RL34543, International Drug Control Policy.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40582", "sha1": "16b25253025eb63658ba820b3a6a9bf8668a9e8d", "filename": "files/20090527_R40582_16b25253025eb63658ba820b3a6a9bf8668a9e8d.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40582", "sha1": "af2ce419a505ed96a9045593ab443e8250a79715", "filename": "files/20090527_R40582_af2ce419a505ed96a9045593ab443e8250a79715.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700603/", "id": "R40582_2009May15", "date": "2009-05-15", "retrieved": "2015-08-27T16:20:31", "title": "Mexico's Drug-Related Violence", "summary": "This report examines the causes for the escalation of the violence in Mexico. It provides a brief overview of Mexico's counterdrug efforts, a description of the major drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), the causes and trends in the violence, the Calder\u00f3n government's efforts to crackdown on the DTOs, and the objectives and implementation of the M\u00e9rida Initiative and other measures the U.S. government has taken to support Mexico in its battle with the drug traffickers.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20090515_R40582_4c5f793690efb1b2b24fd3f2590398a29a1b3cf2.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20090515_R40582_4c5f793690efb1b2b24fd3f2590398a29a1b3cf2.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Drug traffic", "name": "Drug traffic" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Organized crime", "name": "Organized crime" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Mexico", "name": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Mexico" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- Mexico -- U.S.", "name": "Foreign relations -- Mexico -- U.S." }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Corruption in politics", "name": "Corruption in politics" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Politics and government -- Mexico", "name": "Politics and government -- Mexico" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Foreign Affairs", "Intelligence and National Security" ] }