something that deeply concerns me.

as you are probably well aware of, especially if you've kept up with my life at all over the last year, i spent a considerable amount of time in mexico in the year 2008. because i lived there, learned about the culture there, and developed life-long relationships there; i have a very vested interest in what happens in mexico and i always will.

i didn't share a lot of my experiences with you, because frankly, some of them were too unbelievable and legitimately frightening. but let's put it this way, i learned pretty early on that there was a very serious problem in the country and it was only going to escalate.

of course what i'm referring to is the current drug war that has become rampant and terrorizing. it's no secret that narcotics have always been synonymous with mexico, but i'm afraid that the situation happening right now has reached fever pitch.

for those of you who have no idea what's going on, mexico's president felipe calderon took a very ambitious approach to ending the drug problem in his country. he decided to declare a full-out mandate to stop drug activity. obviously there are many issues that arise from this imperative, namely the fact that all of the cartels have decided to battle back against the government and military - and each other. this gets downright confusing considering that the government is so infiltrated that many individuals belong to both the police force and the cartel.



in the year 2008 alone, 7,000 drug-related murders have occurred. i assure you that these killings are not something to be taken lightly. they are malicious, calculated, cold, and horrific. living in a border state, i often heard stories about decapitated bodies being left on the side of the road, with their heads being left in an ice chest on the front steps of the police station. in fact, the most recent police chief in juarez had to step down a few weeks ago because for every day that he did not resign, a police officer was brutally murdered.

so now you might be thinking to yourself, i live in the united states, how does this affect me?

well i most definitely believe it affects the united states, but i adamantly believe that if you live in california, arizona, new mexico, or texas - IT REALLY AFFECTS YOU. First of all, take a look at the map below:



this shows the drug cartel's sphere of influence. this map clearly demonstrates the strong presence of narcos in all of the border towns. of course you might have heard of the sinaloa cartel before; it's legendary, comprable to the don coreleone family. why do they operate on the border? it's simple, real simple. we (the united states of america) are the ones buying, demanding, and enabling the product. we're the consumers of the drug and we're supplying the guns .



after reading this article this morning, i'm especially disturbed that they're using our kids as hitmen to carry out their plans.

as agreed upon in the merida initiative it is time for the united states not to turn a blind eye to something that has now been called "a greater foreign policy threat than afghanistan." our governor, rick perry, hasn't always done the right thing in my opinion, but i will say that he's very smart for realizing that this is going to be a very serious issue for the state of texas. he has already asked the federal government to intercede by sending troops and creating a fema-like response plan.

my aim in writing this isn't to pass some kind of policy or try to correct the problem myself, but i do want to bring attention to the issue and i also want to urge those traveling to mexico in the near future to be VERY CAREFUL. there was a pretty stringent travel alert issued a few weeks ago by the u.s. department of state and it would be wise to pay attention to it.

of course, my greatest concern is for all of the people that i love and care about who reside in mexico. i pray for their safety, security, and peace - and that someday, this issue can be resolved.