CUERNAVACA, Mexico — On Dec.19, 2009 more than 200 members of Mexico’s naval commandos participated in a massive two-hour raid in a Cuernavaca luxury condominium complex that resulted in the death of drug kingpin Arturo Beltran-Leyva and six of his associates. One Mexican soilder, Melquisedet Angulo Cordova, lost his life during the operation. Beltran-Leyvan was one of four leaders of the Beltran-Leyva Cartel, who was notorious for posing in photographs with the bodies of his decapitated lifeless rivals. Mexico’s current president, Felipe Calderón, celebrated the death of Beltran-Leyvan, who was once known as Mexico’s “boss of bosses,” as “an important achievement for the people and government of Mexico and a heavy blow against one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in Mexico.”
However, some Cuernavaca community members have restrained themselves from commending the Mexican government for their achievement.
“Why did the Navy fulfill the task of killing Arturo Beltran Leyva? Cuernavaca does not have a port or ocean?”, asked Jorge Torres, a Cuernavaca native and director of the Cuernavaca Progressive Spanish Language Mexican Cultural Institute “I have my suspicion that the Navy carried out this task because other [state and federal] agencies could not be trusted. The government knew that the police would have probably helped [Leyvan] escape. This is why the military wanted him dead. They didn’t want or try to capture him.”
Mexico’s drug cartel operations are dependent on current associations with Mexican government and law enforcement officials. Despite various federal reform efforts, ties to cartels remain secure.
Since President Felipe Calderon declared a war on drugs in late 2006, 45,000 federal troops and 5,000 federal police have been deployed throughout 18 states in an effort to combat violent drug cartels that have stopped at nothing to sustain access to the multibillion dollar drug market in the United States. It is estimated that more than 10,031 drug war related deaths have occurred since January 2007, more than the American casualties in the Iraq War. Conflict between rival drug cartels and the Mexican government can only be described as an act of modern warfare.
Calderón’s military approach to combat the cartels is a difficult task to fulfill because of the extreme poverty in Mexico. Improving the social welfare and economy of Mexico has been a long and hard struggle for both the government and citizens of Mexico. According the C.I.A.’s world fact book, Mexico’s GDP fell more than 7 percent in 2009 alone after making minimal gains of 3 percent in 2007 and 2008. A 2004 World Bank report estimated that 17.6 percent of Mexican citizens live in extreme poverty while 21 percent live in moderate poverty. Today, the minimum wage in Mexico is roughly 56 pesos for an eight-hour workday, which equates to about 57 cents an hour in U.S. currency. Mexican cartels have successfully taken advantage of the present economic situation in Mexico, effortlessly recruiting youth and governmental officials. Because of the challenging economic conditions, it is likely that the Mexican cartels will remain.
On December 23, 2009, Angulo-Cordova, the soldier who was killed during the raid that killed drug lord Beltran-Leyva, was buried with the highest of Mexico’s military honors. Hours after his funeral, a group of unidentified gunmen assassinated the Marine’s sister, brother and aunt in their family home in an act of retaliation.
This haunting display of violence served as a message to the Mexican community from the cartels, “Don’t mess with us”. It seems, at least for now, that the Mexican drug trade will persist against the government’s efforts as the international world watches in dismay.
Robeto Miranda is a senior political science and Chicano and Latino studies double major and a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
