Apart from the health hazards posed by consumption of drugs, the narcotic trade links across the border with Mexico creates new security threats to the nation. While the diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United States is quite amicable, the same cannot be said about other neighboring nations. For example, there are the cases of Cuba and Venezuela, whose relations with the United States is acrimonious. If the drug trafficking routes from Mexico are not dismantled, then there is a real threat of infiltration from these hostile nations. Given that Cuba was a strong ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era and that Venezuela has openly expressed its opposition to the United States’ foreign policy initiatives, the narcotics trade routes from Mexico could undermine stability of civil society in the U.S. Already, there is the precedent of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world came very close to a catastrophic world war. With increase in the amount and potency of nuclear arsenal across nations, such fragile geo-political equations should not be allowed to develop. Further down the continent, leading latin Aemrican nations are forging formidable alliances in the name of ‘social justice’, the prime manifestation of which is the World Social Forum meetings. There are a strong socialist undercurrent behind this movement, which has the potential to undermine the authority of the United States on the world stage. Keeping all these realities in mind, the United States government should continue to stay engaged with Mexico in the war against drugs.
WORKS CITED
Nadelmann, Ethan. 2003. Addicted to Failure: It’s Time for Latin America to Start Breaking with Washington over the War on Drugs. Foreign Policy, July-August, 94+.
Petras, James. 2002. U.S. Offensive in Latin America: Coups, Retreats, and Radicalization. Monthly Review, May, 15+.
Strobel, Warren P. 1997. U.S. Promises $6 Million to Mexico to Fight Drugs: New Anti-Narcotics Force to Replace Corrupt One. The Washington Times, 6 May, 4.
Weinstein, Ian. 2003. Fifteen Years after the Federal Sentencing Revolution: How Mandatory Minimums Have Undermined Effective and Just Narcotics Sentencing. American Criminal Law Review 40, no. 1: 87+.
G. Serrano, The failing war on drugs in Mexico, retrieved on Monday, September 21, 2009, from <http://trendsupdates.com>
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