It Pays To Be A Mexican Drug Lord

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman comes in at #41 on Frobes Most Powerful list.

Obviously being on this list means shit; but the power that Guzman wields across the border is very real -- and I imagine -- very frightening for the people who live in his territory. It's estimated that his cartel is responsible for hundreds of killings a month in Mexico, by way of turf battles and retribution killings. El Chapo runs what's arguably the largest, and most powerful drug cartel in the world, the Sinaloa cartel. The guy's something of a legend, having been arrested and jailed by Mexican authorities in the late 90's only to escape in 2001 via a laundry cart.

Here's a very good profile on the man from the WSJ that was published this past summer. Recently The Atlantic also ran a piece on the failed drug war in Mexico. Here's a breakdown of cartel controlled areas in Mexico via the BBC.

Weekend International Links

The U.S. adds over 100,00 jobs, calming economic fears. International Herald Tribune

EU criticizes the pace of Turkey's reform, slowing any possible entry into the Union. IHT

"To engaged in aggressive personal diplomacy" is Obama's stance on Iran. New York Times

Hollywood writers call for strike against studios on Monday at midnight. Financial Times.

Floods inundates 70% of the Mexican state of Tabasco. LA Times

Putin cuts two-thirds of the international observing force from Russia's December elections. MSNBC

"If he's a cheat at one thing, he'll cheat at anything"

A motto I live by*, and one reason why I think a politician's love life is the public's business.

MEXICO CITY — After a humiliating defeat in Mexico's presidential election last year, Roberto Madrazo appeared to be back on top: He'd won the men's age-55 category in the Sept. 30 Berlin marathon with a surprising time of 2:41:12. But Madrazo couldn't leave his reputation for shady dealings in the dust. Race officials said Monday they disqualified him for apparently taking a short cut — an electronic tracking chip indicates he skipped two checkpoints in the race and would have needed superhuman speed to achieve his win.

More here.

* and by live by, I mean I cheat at everything. I once cheated while playing Chutes & Ladders with my niece. And not just once. Three times in a row. Don't judge me. I did it out of love. Love of winning.

Mexico’s Domestic Drug Market

In Mexico, drug use is usually relegated to cheaper substances like crack and meth. This is not a surprise for developing nation with high levels of economic inequality. An article in the New York Times mentions that violent crime didn’t exist 15 years ago when the local market just had marijuana.

One positive is that Mexico is home to a growing industry of private rehab clinics. It is obvious that for this industry to really take off Mexico requires further development of its film industry.

We Could Blame Our Nation's Policy and Lawmakers...But Blaming Mexicans is Always a Lot of Fun

DEA Microgram Bulletin --- Febuarary '07 [emphasis mine]

INTELLIGENCE BRIEF -

LARGE QUANTITIES OF VERY HIGH PURITY "ICE" METHAMPHETAMINE
BEING ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE MEXICO/TEXAS BORDER

The DEA South Central Laboratory (Dallas, Texas) has recently received several submissions of large quantities of unusually pure d-methamphetamine HCl (“Ice”). The submissions are from seizures made along the Mexico/Texas border by personnel from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, and/or the DEA.

[...]

While these are not the first submissions of this type to the laboratory, it is very unusual for this laboratory to have multiple submissions of 99 percent plus purity “Ice” methamphetamine in such large quantities.

[Editor’s Comment: Restrictions on the domestic sales of ephedrine- and pseudoephedrine-containing products have had a significant impact on small-scale, domestic production of methamphetamine. As a result, Mexican-based Drug Trafficking Organizations have moved quickly to fill the void with increased production of “Ice” methamphetamine.]

Does anyone besides the usual legalization crowd care one bit about this type of negative consequence from prohibitionist legislation? Anyone in the MSM or politics? I suppose no one cares about a few more dead meth users, or feeding violent drug cartels in Mexico? And you can bet that if they do care to notice an increase in meth trafficking across the border they won't ever come close to touching the root cause of it.

Of course this was an obvious cause-effect relationship. You shut down domestic production, someone from across the border will fill the void. In a sense you have shut down small, mom-and-pop operations that were (on a whole) not as concerned about making monster profits. The motivation for most domestic meth producers is the same motivation that most low/mid-level dealers have. To cover their losses from recreational use and maybe make a small profit. They sell their product to friends, acquaintances; most people buying the meth are close to the production of it. That's an important quality control measure. It might seem crazy because we're talking about an illegal drug, but a relationship based on trust with your supplier probably keeps some of these meth-heads alive.

Then of course, we have the Mexican producers that need to produce a lot (some will be seized and never make it to market, also a much high risk premium is added than with domestic product), and preferably a lot of a high-quality, to increase the profit margin. So you end up with a lot of potent, potentially dangerous meth, made by faceless Mexicans. Was limiting my monthly allowance of Sudafed worth it?