Brutal Drug War Fueled By U.S. Appetite

CBS Evening News Exclusive: Mexico's Ruthless Drug Cartel Violence Now Crossing The Border

(CBS)  In the past few years, Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places on earth. Drug gangs have killed more than 5,000 people this year - more than the entire American death toll in Iraq. Tuesday, the Justice Department declared Mexico's drug cartels have become the biggest organized crime threat to the United States. CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker takes an exclusive look at how Mexico's problem is crossing the border.

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The sound of a country in crisis includes the cries of a woman wailing upon finding husband dead in cab of truck. The United States' southern neighbor is in the throes of a drug war - one that's growing more savage every day as the brutally aggressive Sinaloa Cartel muscles in on territory controlled by the Arellano-Felix, the Juarez and Gulf Cartels for control of lucrative routes for smuggling marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines into the United States - a $14 billion a year illegal trade, Whitaker reports.

The drug traffickers are more reckless and ruthless than ever. A group of terrified school children were caught in the crossfire of a three-hour shootout on the streets of Tijuana. In Juarez, a crime reporter was shot to death, the fifth Mexican journalist silenced this year.

Bill Gore has witnessed the carnage, first as the FBI Special Agent in Charge in San Diego, now as the county's undersheriff. He says American drug users should realize they have blood on their hands.

"This is not a victimless crime," Gore said. "That people are dying, literally hundreds of them, on the streets of Tijuana, so they can have their recreational drugs on this side of the border."

The most extreme violence is just south of the border - nowhere worse than Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso. There have been 16 murders in El Paso this year and almost 1,500 drug-related killings in Juarez.

One grisly new tactic is beheadings. A headless corpse hung above a busy highway almost two hours before police covered it with a sheet - the head found in a nearby park.

In Tijuana, nine men were decapitated last month, three of them policemen, their badges stuck in their mouths - some of the 40 murders in Tijuana occurred in just one weekend.

It is a bloody war fueled by a high-powered arsenal of weapons, most smuggled in from the United States.

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Read more about the role of the cartels at Tijuana Press (in Spanish) and at KPBS online.

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The gun violence is fueling a boom in the security business. Gabriel Martin turns cars into tanks with armor plating, bullet-proof glass. Of one car he says: "An AR-15 with armor-piercing nose could not get through that."

And there's a long waiting list of people anxious to pay from $30,000 to $90,000 to outfit cars with James Bond-like smoke screens and nails to puncture pursuers' tires.

"As crime rises it seems like the business grows," Martin said. "People are scared to be kidnapped."

The current FBI Agent in Charge in San Diego says gangland kidnappings, common in Mexico as a secondary source of cartel income, are becoming common there.

"The violence is absolutely spilling across into the United States," said FBI agent Keith Slotter said.

About 40 San Diego residents were kidnapped in Mexico this year - double the number three years ago. Many more go unreported.

"Normally, the kidnappers have done, we believe, extensive research ahead of time," Slotter said. "They have a good, a solid background on a person's financial means."

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World Watch Blog: The War Next Door
World Watch Blog: Mexican Drug Raid Turns Into Hot Tub Party

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They kidnapped one woman's husband, an American with businesses in Tijuana. They demanded $2 million. She's afraid to reveal her identity.

"I had to sell my business. I had to sell property. Anything to get back my husband," the woman said. "There was no need for them to kill my husband."

Ironically, this orgy of violence erupted after Mexican president Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels last year, dispatching 40,000 troops and federal police to cities under siege. They've killed or captured scores of drug kingpins.

Authorities call this a success, though a fierce gun battle raged in the middle of the city for almost an hour. In the end, the federal police and the military took custody the most wanted chief of the Tijuana drug cartel.

With the arrest of Eduardo Arellano-Felix, the once powerful cartel is in disarray. The unintended consequence of success: a bloodbath, as the next generation of gangsters battles for dominance.

"We cannot live with that kind of intimidation, with that kind of terror on our streets," said Jorge Ramos, the Mayor of Tijuana.

So the mayor of Tijuana last week tapped former army Lt. Colonel, Julian Leyzaola, to run the city's police department.

He promises to take back the streets.

"Even in war you don't see what you see here," he said through a translator. "People whose heads are cut off, people who are dissolved in acid. If the cartels only understand the language of violence, then we are going to have to speak in their language ... and annihilate them."

In other words, fight cartel violence with superior violence: the coordinated power the police and military. As the government fights to get the upper hand, there's likely to be more blood in the streets.

[HombreVida]

I do certainly agree with penagosa comment about this sad problem.
What is it with the American authorities, and the media editorials, to see only one side of a coin?
And I quote: "with whom do they deal in the States? They most have some big brokers over there, and we wonder where they live, how they work? Are they invisible? Are your police and all your intelligence agencies incapable to catch them? Are they incapable to locate them and all their distribution chains inside America? penagosa" unquote.
I do, as a proud Mexican, love United States and his people, my relatives live upthere, We had receive opportunities, considerations, of course my people sure has been working a lot, nothing has been free, never.
I want peace in the Universe, my world, continent, my country, my city, my neighborhood. But we have two faces, we have both responsabilities, blaming others, being clearly a participant of the blame...please give mature comments and of course...found that criminal people, are in my country...and got to be in yours for sure.
What about the peploe saying that " much of the bad news in US, crime, thefts, drugs are not published?
I wished not to believe'em...but would be real that? Poverty in US? well I saw people once wrapped in trash bags in New York, and needy people, we can see'em in "house, extreme makeover" every day.
Stop the Hollywood non-blame attitude. Be real. We want peace, tourism, happiness, healthy busineess, but we need to be real on our comments and our points of view.
Thank you and God bless you all.

[impeach_o]

It''''s not drug use that''''s killing people it''''s the prohibition of them just as it was with alcohol in the 20''''s.


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Posted by Artorus at 03:31 PM : Dec 18, 2008
+ report abuse


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a lot of crack heads and speed freaks would like to disagree with you..what you propose it an easier access to drugs (no I am not talking about pot). We are talking about marketing, promtions, ladies with long legs and fancy hats handing out samples at ballgames and such...

now with the dealers side..do you really want these drug dealers and thugs to be legalized (pls dont bring up the bushcheney bullsh*t because I am sick and tired of that ignorant diversion tactic) and sitting in some boardroom trying to figure out what they are going to with thier trillions of dollars???

what you need is karma to hit you in the arse..and so you shall

[penagosa]

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is determined to confront the narcotrafic cartels no matter the amount of casualties of this war against the organized crime. I have been reading some people%u2019s opinions about facts of smoking pot. They see this as a small subject, because they say that they only smoke a small quantity of pot, a few cigarettes. The problem is that they don%u2019t multiply it by all the consumers inside the United States and Canada. We Mexicans wonder why the authorities over there never announce the capture of a big fish in the drug dealing word. If there are so many cartels in Mexico, with whom do they deal in the States? They most have some big brokers over there, and we wonder where they live, how they work? Are they invisible? Are your police and all your intelligence agencies incapable to catch them? Are they incapable to locate them and all their distribution chains inside America? So many questions without answer don%u2019t you think? I finish saying that to have a business running you need a seller and a customer, and you guys have the customers inside and all over America, so you are half of the problem and in consequence all this violence and blood running all over my country is your responsibility too.

[artorus]

Sorry for double post. New to site.

[artorus]

"American drug users should realize they have blood on their hands. "

That''s about as silly as saying that Americans who enjoy their freedom have blood on their hands because of all the clandestine international operations of the CIA.

It''s not drug use that''s killing people it''s the prohibition of them just as it was with alcohol in the 20''s.

[artorus]

"American drug users should realize they have blood on their hands. "

That''s about as silly as saying that Americans who enjoy their freedom have blood on their hands because of all the clandestine international operations of the CIA.

It''s not drug use that''s killing people it''s the prohibition of them just as it was with alcohol in the 20''s.

[impeach_o]

Posted by FossilGeek at 03:22 PM : Dec 17, 2008
+ report abuse


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your crack using brethrens are THE ONES THAT RUINED YOUR PARTY..

[grandesign]

....the war on drugs DOES work for those enforcing it. that is why it is so difficult to change things for the better.
Posted by HonestAbe8 at 10:55 AM : Dec 17, 2008

Yeah, alot of careers are going away if the war on drugs goes away. So many unemployed people who served with distinction, in a war of propaganda.

[grandesign]

have never used illegal drugs, so while I may have my own addictions, illegal drug use isn''''t one of them. The war in Mexico over drugs is not my doing.
Posted by leeanna58 at 01:20 PM : Dec 17, 2008

And this is the backward thinking that causes the problem. You ARE supporting the illegal drug trade by supporting a legal process that this in error. By this error, it creates a black market bringing billions in revenues, and much of that is profit. By support the illegal attribute of a natural product of the earth, with natural effects on the human body, and calling it unnatural--is an absurdity. And this is why the "love of money" is the reason for all the deaths involved with trafficing the substances. When more people die as a result of the supply mechanism, rather that the substance, it shows that the laws need to be updated.

[mrmeatspin]

FACT: There are successful, hard-working Americans who smoke Marijuana. I am one of them.


Posted by allusive1 at 03:02 PM : Dec 17, 2008

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FACT: CRACK COCAINE ROTS YOUR BRAIN..