Mexico's Spreading Drug Stain; Mexican Cartels Expanding Role In Trafficking
Mexico, for decades a key transshipment point for cocaine entering the United States, has expanded its role over the past year as a clearinghouse for worldwide drug shipments and money laundering with the active help of business leaders and government officials, U.S. and Latin American narcotics experts say.</br></br>The Mexican narcotics organizations, which sprang up as franchises of the Colombian cocaine cartels, are now viewed by U.S. and Mexican authorities as independent entities that maintain business ties with other criminal organizations but are now strong enough to operate on their own.</br></br>Experts say the Mexican organizations have built a financial empire using the country's booming tourist industry and stock market, converting billions of dollars in drug profits into legitimate forms of capital that are integral to Mexico's financial health. Bankers here are not discounting the possibility that the December financial crunch that led to the peso's devaluation was the result, at least in part, of a massive transfer of drug money from the country.</br></br>As in Colombia, where the Medellin and Cali cartels pioneered large-scale shipments of cocaine through a combination of ruthless violence and huge bribes, the Mexican organizations depend on protection from members of government, police and the judiciary. In both countries, officials are often offered the choice of "silver or lead" -- money or a bullet -- allowing traffickers to build empires that often entangle the highest levels of government and law enforcement.</br></br>Remarkable similarities are emerging in the pattern of corruption and violence -- including an unusually high-profile series of killings -- that has characterized Colombia for years and marks Mexico today. The former deputy attorney general, Mario Ruiz Massieu, is under arrest in the United States as authorities investigate links between him and the Gulf of Mexico drug cartel based in northern Tamaulipas state.