[RE] Dead bodies in Mexico, nothing new

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/09/201192122817661227.html

Every week there are news articles of double digit dead body findings in Mexico.  Many of the dead bodies have been mutalated or tortured, and left on the street or in plastic bags in garbage cans around town.  This rapid, and constant homicide rate in cities like Veracruz and Acapulco, Mexico have plagued not only Mexico, but the U.S. as well.  The demand from illegal drugs across America is enormous, and Mexico's drug trade facilitates our needs as drugs are smuggled into the U.S. on a daily basis.  Mexican kingpins and crime organisations include human smuggling, fraud, and extortion as well and they all have developed into large crime groups which constantly compete with eachother and run into law enforcement of both their own country and U.S. DEA. 

On a personal note, this increase in homicide and crime in Mexico's cities had greatly angered and frustrated me.  In the summer of 2009, I was supposed to travel to Mazatlan with the 2009 Alameda World Team to play in the World Tournament.  Teams from Japan, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Italy, Australia, etc. would be there and it would be my first time experiencing such a culture rich competition.  Players were originally to be home-stayed in a Mexico player's house and live with the family for a few weeks.  I was looking foward to speaking spanish and emersing myself in the Mexican culture.  However after so many homicides, drug trafficing, and crime, home-staying was out of the question.  As if that was not enough, the trip was ultimately cancelled to to the Board's concern for our safety and instead our team joined a smaller international tournament in Crystal Lake Illinois.  I look back on this missed oppurtunity the same way I look back on the baseball trip the Alameda Varsity Team was to go on last year, but was cancelled due to the tragic Tsunami.  These two opputunities would have been my first times out of the country, really (except for being in Tiajuana for half a day).  All of the experiences I could have had, and memories, and cultural enrichment that was not possible after the cancellation of the Mexico trip depressed me.

Drugs and crime in Mexico is a real problem ultimately fed by the U.S....big surprise.  The DEA is fighting an inconclusive battle against drugs and I believe it is a complete waste of time and money.  The U.S. is spending so much of its own budget, not to mention costs of illegal immigration and damage due to drug runners in America.  It is however, a necessity of anti-drug forces to protect our citizens from the effects of all this illegal activity.  As long as there is a demand, the U.S. will continue to be plagued by illegal drugs, and Mexico will continue to fall as a country.