Parallel governments of Mexican drug cartels must be busted, warns US

Mexico City/Washington: The US Ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, warned, ‘It has been observed that parallel governments run by the Mexican drug cartels are operational in many parts of Mexico. Although everything appears normal on the face of it, the domination of the cartels cannot be challenged. The increasing area of domination for these cartels in a sovereign country cannot be acceptable. This is very important for Mexico’s future. If no action is taken to destroy this system, the situation will be more grave.’

Since the last few months, the incidents of violence by these cartels are getting out of hand and have been frequently reported. In October, in one of the conflicts in Sinaloa, the members of a drug cartel had held the city at ransom to get their leader released. The Mexican government faced a lot of criticism over this incident. Additionally, at the beginning of this month, nine members of a family from the United States were brutally murdered in Chihuahua.

These successive incidents have rocked Mexico and the credibility of the government also is being doubted. The image of the Mexican President Andres Obrador has taken a severe beating and he is facing harsh criticism. Despite repeated assurances to take action against the cartels, the Mexican President has failed to stop the violence. The United States has started to adopt a more aggressive stand and the warning issued by the US Ambassador is a part of the same thing.

President Trump indicated interference in Mexico, following the brutal killing of the US family. President Trump had announced that it was time to declare war against the Mexican drug cartels. He had referred to these cartels operating in Mexico as ‘monsters.’ At the same time, Trump had assured all the possible support for the war against the drug cartels.

As per a report published by the US Congress, out of all the killings in Mexico over the last 12 years, more than 120,000 murders are linked to these criminal gangs connected with the drug trade.