Mexico's Criminal Organizations: Causes, Impact & Solutions
This paper analyzes the rise of international criminal organizations in Mexico, focusing on how poverty and police corruption have created fertile conditions for drug cartels and organized gangs to flourish. It evaluates the Mexican government's largely ineffective responses to rising crime — including militarized operations that worsened violence — and examines the destabilizing effect of criminal organizations on regional governance and rule of law. The paper also assesses the threat Mexican cartels pose to U.S. national security, particularly through drug trafficking and related economic crimes. It concludes with policy recommendations covering police reform, judicial vetting, anti-corruption enforcement, youth employment programs, community policing, and cross-border cooperation between Mexico and the United States.
- Introduction: Scope of Mexico's rising international criminal organizations
- Poverty, Corruption, and the Rise of Criminal Organizations: How low wages and poverty fuel cartel recruitment
- The Mexican Government's Response to Organized Crime: Why government anti-crime policies have largely failed
- How Criminal Activity Has Undermined National Stability: Cartels destabilizing regions, judiciary, and law enforcement
- The Threat to United States National Security: Drug trafficking and cartel spillover threatening U.S. security
- Recommendations for Reducing Organized Crime in Mexico: Policy solutions from police reform to youth employment
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper maintains a clear, consistent analytical thread — tracing crime from its structural roots (poverty, corruption) through government failure and into concrete policy recommendations — giving the argument a logical arc from diagnosis to prescription.
- It uses a range of cited sources including academic texts, news journalism, and government reports, lending credibility to claims about cartel power, police pay, and drug trafficking statistics.
- The recommendations section is specific and actionable, connecting each proposed solution directly back to a cause identified earlier in the paper, demonstrating integrated analytical thinking.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates root-cause analysis as a structuring technique: rather than treating crime as an isolated phenomenon, the author systematically identifies underlying drivers (low police wages, youth unemployment, political will deficits) and uses them to evaluate both past policy failures and future remedies. This ensures that the argument builds coherently across all sections.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a problem-analysis-solution framework across six logical sections: an introduction framing the scope; a section on structural causes; a government scorecard section that critiques specific policy failures; a section on domestic stability; a section on spillover effects for the U.S.; and a detailed recommendations section. Each section feeds into the next, making this a well-sequenced policy analysis essay.
Introduction
Over time, Mexico has experienced significant growth in crime levels — a trend that has driven criminal activity not only within the country but across the entire region. This paper concerns itself with the rise of international criminal organizations in Mexico, examining the role that poverty and corruption have played in creating fertile ground for organized gangs. It also evaluates how the Mexican government has responded to rising criminal activity, assesses the effect of these criminal organizations on the nation's stability, and considers what the situation in Mexico means for the United States from a national security perspective. Policy recommendations for the Mexican government are offered in the final section.
Poverty, Corruption, and the Rise of Criminal Organizations
Mexico is home to some of the most ruthless and efficient criminal gangs in the region. These gangs and cartels have used their relative success at home as a launch pad for regional and international criminal operations. The role drug trafficking plays in sustaining criminal activity in Mexico cannot be overstated; it remains one of the key drivers of crime in the country. Having devised ways of circumventing domestic security systems, Mexican drug cartels have spread their reach far and wide, with the United States being one of their most lucrative markets.
The rise and expansion of criminal organizations in Mexico has largely been fueled by poverty and corruption. With respect to corruption, it has been established that law breakers in Mexico often operate in concert with law enforcement officials. In the words of Gossop (2013), "police corruption is widespread at all levels." Instances of bribery are common. With police officers in Mexico among the worst paid in the region, they are easy targets for drug cartels, as they are far more likely to accept a bribe than their better-paid counterparts in other countries. According to Barkan and Bryjak (2011), as of 2011 the salary of a police officer in Mexico generally ranged between $350 and $600 U.S. dollars per month. It is not difficult to understand why an officer would accept a substantial bribe from criminal elements seeking protection or immunity from apprehension.
In most cases, law enforcement officers have few options but to comply. As is often said in Mexican parlance, drug cartels — as Edmonds-Poli and Shirk (2012) point out — generally offer Plata (silver) o Plomo (lead): accept a bribe or face death. Many choose Plata by default. This is a problem that can only be addressed through the adoption of strategies that protect against the demoralization of the police force.
Poverty is also responsible for escalating crime rates in Mexico. Some analysts, such as Ramsey (2011), refer to poverty as a recruitment tool for Mexican crime cartels. According to Ramsey, poverty and lack of opportunity continue to supply "Mexico's drug trafficking organizations with waves of fresh recruits" (Ramsey, 2010). Widespread joblessness makes criminal activity a very appealing alternative for thousands of young people seeking to make ends meet by whatever means available. Other contributing factors include, but are not limited to, the inefficiency of the Mexican judiciary, the absence of a properly organized police force, a lack of political will to combat crime, and citizen apathy.
The Mexican Government's Response to Organized Crime
The Mexican government has largely failed to combat crime effectively, despite numerous policies adopted over time by the government and its agencies. For instance, the country's police force has been expanded significantly in the past — yet crime rates remain particularly high. As this paper argues, numbers alone do not determine effectiveness; it is the morale and working conditions of officers on the ground that matter. Without appropriate conditions and better pay, the police force will continue to be as ineffective as it has been historically.
The government has also failed to address what Ramsey (2011) calls "abysmal youth unemployment." Poverty — a consequence of the lack of employment opportunities — continues to be one of the main forces driving individuals, particularly young people, into criminal activity. This social issue has not been conclusively addressed. Indeed, governments have repeatedly chosen the wrong strategy in tackling criminality. For example, data from the National Statistics Institute of Mexico indicates that during President Felipe Calderón's tenure, homicide numbers nearly tripled (Flannery, 2013). The cause was an ambitious but fundamentally flawed approach to fighting crime. According to Flannery (2013), the president "pushed forward with Operation Michoacan Together and sent 4,000 troops to patrol the hills of his home state." Approximately four years after the implementation of this strategy, crime rates soared across the country as drug cartels turned to violent inter-gang competition to control the drug trade.
In Flannery's (2013) words, "Calderón's War failed to address the direct needs of Mexico's population." The president chose to address symptoms rather than the root causes of the problem. What the Mexican political leadership currently lacks is not the opportunity to tackle widespread crime and lawlessness, but the political will to do so. It is for these reasons that the government has largely been ineffective in combating criminal organizations.
References
Barkan, S. & Bryjak, G. (2011). Fundamentals of Criminal Justice: A Sociological View (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Center for International Cooperation — CIC (2013). Organized Crime. Retrieved from
CNN Library. (2013). Mexico Drug War Fast Facts. CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/americas/mexico-drug-war-fast-facts/
Edmonds-Poli, E. & Shirk, D. A. (2012). Contemporary Mexican Politics (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Entous, A. & Hodge, N. (2010). U.S. Sees Heightened Threat in Mexico. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703960004575482080017955838
Flannery, N. P. (2013). Investor Insight: Is Mexico's Drug War Doomed to Failure? Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanielparishflannery/2013/06/24/investor-insight-is-mexicos-drugwar-doomed-to-failure/
Gossop, M. (2013). Living with Drugs. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.
Kurtzman, J. (2009). Mexico's Instability is a Real Problem. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123206674721488169
Ramsey, G. (2011). Poverty a Recruitment Tool for Mexico's Criminal Gangs. Retrieved from http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/poverty-a-recruitment-tool-for-mexicos-criminal-gangs
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