by Amanda Glassman
With the much-touted arrest of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in February,
the United States has won a battle. Not on the drug war itself, but on
the perception that we are somehow winning. The Los Angeles Times called
the capture a "symbolic blow," musing on whether or not his removal
will even affect the drug trade, considering that his Sinaloa cartel
"has already expanded to more than 50 countries in the Americas, Europe
and Africa, and is likely to continue without him." The Congressional Research Service
goes further, stating that in 2012, "General Charles Jacoby testified
to the Senate Armed Services Committee that Mexico had at that time
succeeded in capturing or killing 22 out of 37 of the Mexican
government's most wanted drug traffickers." He "noted that their removal
had not had "any appreciable positive effect" in reducing the
violence."
Despite the news of Guzman's arrest, the situation in Arizona remains harrowing. Regardless of whether or not
it can be considered the Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.A., Phoenix has
become a hub for illicit activity, with the state serving as the largest
drug gateway into America. And with drugs comes violence. To provide
context, in 2012 Phoenix had an average violent crime rate of 373 per
100,000--beating out the national average by 159. That same year, New
York City had an average of 343.3 violent crimes, despite a much denser
population (8.4 million compared to Phoenix's 1.5 million.) In a 2013 report
compiled by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Maricopa County,
which houses Phoenix, saw a total of 18,334 drug-related arrests. And
with an ounce of meth worth 10 times as much as gold, the war shows no
signs of slowing. (On Oct. 28, 2014 gold was $1,230 an ounce, compared to estimates around $17K an ounce for cocaine, with prices rising as it crosses state lines.)
Outside
of Phoenix, smugglers are utilizing Federal and State Parks as pathways
into the United States, headed for the more lucrative trade centers on
the East Coast (90% of the drugs smuggled through Arizona travel out of
state, with Chicago quickly becoming one of the largest trading hubs.) Signs in state and federal parks, such in the 3,500-acre Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, warn visitors of an "Active Drug and Human Smuggling Area. If you see Suspicious Activity, Do Not Confront."
Where travelers were once warned of bears and coyotes, these smugglers
are quickly becoming the new carnivores. A female rancher near the
border, requesting anonymity, reported to The Blaze, "we may be bound to the laws of our country, but we're living by the law of the cartels."
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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