Mexico: The Failed State

The City of Nuevo Laredo

The city of Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, Mexico was once a bustling border town that would lure American tourists to cross every weekend and relieve the stresses of their daily life. Many visited to shop or just soak up the culture and have a margarita. For younger American tourists it was a place to score cheap drugs and drink alcohol without age restrictions. Today streets like Guerrero, which was once the heart of the nightlife in Nuevo Laredo, now has military soldiers holding large automatic weapons at every corner. The streets are now empty after dusk. Not many residents or tourists want to be caught on the streets at night.

With talk that Mexico is on the path to becoming a failed state because of the drug cartels and government corruption, It makes one wonder what is this situation like for the citizens of Mexico. In an interview with The Associated Press, The President of Mexico Felipe Calderon responded to U.S. reports that Mexico is a failed state. Calderon called the account that Mexico is losing the fight against corruption, “absolutely false” .

Mexico may still have a loyal army and is not in danger of a coup but it has failed its citizens According to AP , Attorney General of Mexico Eduardo Medina Mora stated that drug killing totaled 6,900 people in 2008.

When I was a child my mother rented a small one bedroom apartment on Calle Dr. Mier in Nuevo Laredo. We visited so often that it was actually cheaper to rent an apartment then pay for a hotel. My family and I would go to shop and vacation like any other tourists. I remember being able to walk down the street at night without the immense fear that local citizens suffer now. My mother no longer rents that apartment because of the serious warning to American citizens to avoid the dangerous border town. The constant fear and violence the drug cartels have caused in Mexico is something us Americans in the U.S can easily escape.

The people of Mexico can only protest against the bloodshed. The town of Nuevo Laredo and other town along the border have become something like an old western movie were outlaws rule. The people of Mexico are the ones who are actually suffering and witness to the violence the drug cartels have unleashed on their country.

The blame for the country’s crisis is constantly disputed. The people look to their government and the United States to rectify the country’s issue with the drug cartels.

Calderon say that Mexico is not a failed state but he does not see how the country has failed its citizens. Enrique Contreras, 42 year salesman from Mexico, told the Associated Press that “We can no longer live, we can’t be safe anywhere…I hope those in government do their jobs. Otherwise, they should resign.”

If the people of Mexico must live in fear the way they have in the past decade the country is not a success but a failure. As long as there is a market for the product for the cartels the violence will continue. Mexico is not a “failed state” but it has failed its people.

-Diane Sanchez

March 13, 2009. Uncategorized.