They have grown stronger over nearly four decades due to the indulgence, incompetence, and collusion of authorities at the state, municipal, and even federal levels. Between 2018 and 2024—thanks to the generous “hugs” they received from the government—their presence (along with their networks of political complicity) expanded significantly.
These troops, equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry, are driven by no “manifest destiny” other than that of sharing wealth and power with the Mexican State.
To achieve this, they engage in extortion, kidnapping, and murder; they traffic in drugs, weapons, human beings, stolen fuel, counterfeit goods, and chemical precursors. They exact protection payments, displace communities, forcibly recruit young people, set fire to businesses, and control trade routes or the sale of specific products.
Their violence damages the economy, stifles investment, destroys projects, empties towns, and condemns millions of people to live in fear. Their leaders and proxies finance political campaigns, corrupt public officials, secure concessions and contracts (as well as the freedom to operate), and impose their chosen candidates—or, when they cannot impose them, they kidnap or kill them. This is the army that is ravaging Mexico—and not Mexico alone.
Nearly half a million of our compatriots have died as a result of intentional homicide since 2007, with almost half of those deaths occurring since 2018.
Furthermore, through the introduction of illicit drugs—particularly fentanyl—organized crime has caused the deaths of more than 500,000 people in the United States over the last decade.
Beyond the issue of shared responsibility—with the United States representing the demand side and Mexico the supply side—both nations now face a historic opportunity to join forces and defeat this invading army.
On one hand, the current Mexican government—whether out of genuine conviction or under pressure from the United States—has dealt substantial blows to these criminal organizations through seizures, arrests, and similar actions. Meanwhile, the U.S. government and judiciary have decided to proceed resolutely against the army of organized crime (at every level) and, pursuant to international agreements, are demanding that these individuals be handed over to the courts.
But something is amiss…
An unexpected factor has emerged: the incomprehensible protection that the Mexican government is extending to the political partners of organized crime. Its defense of these individuals appears to border on the suicidal, straining our relationship with our neighbor—upon whom our economy depends to an overwhelming degree—to a level not seen in at least a century.
Instead of handing over those responsible, the government claims to be wrapping itself in the national flag. It attempts to make us believe that the year is 1847, not 2026, and that they are the new defenders of national sovereignty.
They are fooling no one. For all the bluster of its president, it is not the United States that is invading Mexico. The entity invading us is organized crime, allied with a faction of the ruling party.
The only sovereignty the government is actually defending is that of those criminal politicians—individuals whom all of Mexico—and now the world—knows by name.
Source: mexicodailypost
