U.S. working covertly in Mexico to break cartels

According to security officials in both Mexico and the United States, American law enforcement has built up a significant network of informants within the most powerful Mexican drug cartels.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Officials are now saying that the network of informants has grown substantially in Mexico and that these networks have enabled Mexican authorities to capture or kill approximately two dozen high and mid-level drug traffickers. They have also been helpful to American operations there.

The new cooperation is historically uncharacteristic. Typically, Mexico is not told who the US informants are for the safety of the agents. Also, there are laws which prohibit American agents from operating across the border. However, the fruitful new cooperation has developed as law-enforcement officials find new ways to work in concert with Mexican authorities, even if some legal issues are set aside for the time.

Mexican authorities have long known that the United States has sent agents to operate within the cartels as informants, but they have done little about it. Previously, the Mexican government has been critical of US intervention in law-enforcement efforts there, however the dramatic escalation in violence has Mexican government grateful for help regardless of whence it comes.

The drug violence in Mexico has killed approximately 40,000 people. That's almost as many people as the United States lost during the Vietnam War, and in a shorter timeframe. Killings have become a near daily occurrence in most cities, and the cartels are employing increasingly grisly tactics such as hanging bodies from bridges, to intimidate civilians.

However, the United States has been viewing the problem in Mexico with increasing concern. There is a growing threat that violence will spill across the border. The very cartels the Mexican government is fighting generate their profits by trafficking drugs, and people into the United States, so the problem is certainly a two state concern.

To help address the issue, the United States has begun doing things that most would have found unthinkable just five years ago. Those tactics include the deployment of unmanned aerial drones to spy on illegal activity in Mexico.

Already, authorities on both sides of the border have credited US intervention with diminishing the flow of drugs and people into the States. However, the problems with the cartels are serious and deep rooted. Both countries must realize that Mexico is engaged in a civil war, and a positive outcome will require unprecedented dedication and co-operation between both countries.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'