The U.S. Also Has Corruption

The United States spends more in one day of combat in Afghanistan than it does in a year to support Mexico in its fight against organized crime. This disparity lies in the erroneous belief that drug trafficking is a problem endemic to Latin America, which will never be able to spread its issues throughout an American Union. Events of recent years have dismantled this dogma.

During President Obama’s administration, close to 130 Immigration and Customs agents, such as those of the Border Patrol, have been arrested on charges of corruption linked to Mexican drug cartels. In 2009 alone, the office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security opened 839 investigations of corruption that involved agents of this organization.

There is sufficient data to affirm that this collusion is not an exception and continues to increase.

“Based on governmental reports, drug cartels such as the Zetas are involved in actions of systematic corruption for the trafficking of drugs and people,”* Acting Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, Charles Edwards, declared in June before the United States Senate.

In the same hearing, Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Alan Bersin, said that the 60,000 agents deployed by his agency are “vulnerable to corruption, in particular on the southeastern border.”*

In August, an FBI report affirmed that “the cartels actively dedicate themselves to the corruption of public officers … recruiting via the exploitation of weaknesses (addictions to drugs, gambling or women).”*

Millions of dollars of resources for Mexico have been held back under the false argument of endemic corruption; U.S. congressmen have said that the destination of the money cannot be verified. After years of negotiating the Merida Initiative, the Mexican government can dismantle this so-called moral superiority.

The Mexican cartels’ capacity for corruption has surprised U.S. authorities. Perhaps it is time to focus its forces on cutting the source of this collusion: consumption within its own borders.

*Editor’s note: These quotes, although accurately translated, could not be independently verified.