Mexico

[Download the full paper here].

This slideshow traces a number of key points on the U.S.-Mexico border, from Laredo, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez in the east through Nogales (Arizona and Mexico), and Yuma, Arizona, and then north to Calexico, California and west to Tijuana, Mexico. Topics explored are the physical border and landscape, cross-border trade, security, immigration, drug trafficking and organized crime.

View multimedia here.

What is fundamental to all drug traffickers from Mexico is to get drugs moving onto a U.S. highway and into a metropolitan city for distribution. Interstate 35 runs north from Laredo to San Antonio, Texas, a route that is strategic to the legitimate and illegitimate economy. Once across the border the value of drugs climbs as they are moved north. A kilo of uncut cocaine in the U.S. could start at $18,500 a couple of hundred miles from the border but might increase in value to $32,000 further north. Prices vary depending on the amount purchased, the quality and the location.

Presenting a view of the main U.S. ports of entry into Laredo, Texas, this slideshow shows inspection areas operated by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. It explores several aspects of U.S. border security, trade and border economics, and drug trafficking.

View full article and multimedia.

The city of Monterrey located in the border state of Nuevo Leon is considered the main entry route to several major drug trafficking plazas including Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa—a forward-operating base for the Zeta drug cartel and a port of entry to their area of influence for their smuggling routes in the northeast. It also serves as a first line of defense against any incursions into their territory. Monterrey is Mexico’s second richest city with much of its wealthy economy directly tied to trade on the border.

In December 2011, when I was in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, multiple murders occurred on an almost daily basis as sicarios—assassins—“heated up the plaza,” the term used when one rival crime group enters another’s turf, killing and causing havoc. But, as I drive through Juarez in July 2012 it’s hard to imagine the past slaughter. There are signs that things are turning around with new businesses opening.

View photo essay here.

It was the killings that initially drew me to the idea of exploring the U.S.-Mexico border. According to government figures, there were 47,515 drug-related killings in Mexico between late 2006 and late 2012, though many experts put the death toll much higher. Every aspect of Mexican life is affected by organized crime and its endless struggle for control of the distribution of marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Most of the drugs are destined for the United States and Canada.

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Memo to Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexican presidential candidate who lost on July 1 by six percentage points: Losing is bad; not accepting your defeat is worse.

Losing well is an underappreciated virtue. Whether we’re talking about a family game of Monopoly, a summer softball league, or an intense firm whose associates vie for a promotion to be partner, the ability to lose gracefully, and concede defeat in a manner that isn’t destructive, is essential to community well-being.