Mexico

The region I selected is Mexico because I wanted to learn more about Mexico and what current events such as economic, political and social changes will impact the growth. Economic growth in Mexico is being slowed down and the reason sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s everywhere, we hear about it on the news and radio, we read about it in the local newspaper and online. What is it, the Mexican Cartels, the Cartels has a profound effect on Mexico’s economy. Some areas in Mexico are totally controlled by Cartels, such as small towns, governments, police force and local armies. The negative impact of this is the cost of fighting against the Cartels or simply put to reduce the violence. According to Forbes.com in the article Mexico’s Astonishing Costs Of Fighting Drug Cartels Have Not Reduced Violence. It states that “in 2013, the cost of fighting the powerful drug cartels rose to almost $172.7 billion (more than twice Mexico’s foreign debt)”. Wow, what! No wonder why so many people are fleeing Mexico. Tons of money, no billions is being spent and nothing is happening, that shows you just how powerful the drug cartels are. Here’s another interesting fact from Forbes.com “Mexico’s violence containment costs are not only monetarily much higher than those incurred by Syria, Iraq and Libya, but among the highest in the world”. We boarder with this country, this does not make me feel safe at all, the fact that it’s pretty easy to cross into the United States. I don’t understand why it seems like nothing is being done, I guess it’s the country’s epidemic.
Overall this is a huge problem in Mexico and it’s slowing down the growth. There are cities and towns “like I said before” that are over run by the drug cartels. According to Economist.com in the article “The Feds ride out” it gives an excellent descriptive on what’s going on in Mexico “Valle de Bravo brands itself a (Magical Town). Normally it is a place where the capital’s wealthy residents come to sail, jet ski, and show their SUV’s. Now its cobbled streets look as if they had been cursed. It is patrolled by soldiers, marines and federal police bristling with machineguns. Holidaymakers stay away”. The reason for this take-over is because of all the kidnappings in Valle de Bravo. This is the reason why the economy is taking a hit and it hurts the foreign investments. It’s also slowing down the tourism because when people hear about the violence they avoid that region. Well it’s not just Mexico’s economy in jeopardy because of the drug cartels; it’s the political corruption in Mexico. I found an online article (cfr.org) Mexico’s Drug War, that gives a good idea on what’s going on “For decades, drug trafficking organizations used Mexico’s entrenched political system to create a system-wide network of corruption that ensured distribution rights, market access, and even official government protection for drug traffickers in exchange for lucrative bribes”. We can see why the drug cartels are in