Ciudad Juarez (via Heartswithoutborders.org)
Rampant drug violence and cartel activity in Ciudad Juárez has claimed an average of seven lives per day. Business groups from this Mexican city have made the drastic step of requesting U.N. peacekeepers in their search for a solution against the well-equipped drug cartels.
Former Bush Administration U.S. Customs Service and Drug Enforcement Agency head Robert Bonner has urged the U.S. government to renew the assault rifle ban as well as aggressively tighten border security in an effort to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. According to Mr. Bonner, the “large quantities of weapons and cash generated from illegal drug sales flow south into Mexico, which makes these criminal organizations more powerful and able to corrupt government institutions,” he said.
President Obama and the Department of Justice both recognize the importance of helping Mexico win this war and have allocated $700 million dollars for improving law enforcement capacity along the border. A failure to rein the drug cartels could destabilize the Mexican government and continue to undermine U.S. anti-drug efforts. For more on Mr Bonner’s proposals and related Obama Administration initiatives continue reading here.