Problems and Promise: Mexico's Drug War and Political Turmoil PDF

Okay, here is the text from the image converted into a structured Markdown format. # PROBLEMS AND PROMISE ## THE SPECTER OF THE BORDER A bloody drug war defined Calderón's presidency. It was not new, harking back decades to the birth of Mexican drug cartels. In the twentieth century, PRI governme...

Okay, here is the text from the image converted into a structured Markdown format. # PROBLEMS AND PROMISE ## THE SPECTER OF THE BORDER A bloody drug war defined Calderón's presidency. It was not new, harking back decades to the birth of Mexican drug cartels. In the twentieth century, PRI governments had essentially offered the cartels protection as long as they did not disrupt the peace in Mexico and concentrated their efforts on shipping narcotics to the United States and Canada rather than stimulating a consumer market within Mexico's borders. The Mexican state closed its eyes to the involvement federal, state and local politicians and police who could be bought off by the drug traffickers. Intensifying efforts begun by Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón decided to declare all-out war on the Mexican drug cartels that had broken the unwritten agreement and were expanding their markets in Mexico as well as in the United States, to the tune of $15 to $25 billion (around 10 percent of Mexican GDP) in annual profits. In the decade since the end of the twentieth century global consumption of both marijuana and cocaine had more than doubled, while that of opiates had tripled. El Chapo had outlived his enemies and expanded the operations of the Sinaloa cartel; while it was the largest, competition from others intensified. The profits in cocaine alone could triple in value from the time of purchase in Colombia to its wholesale value in the United States; retail sales could triple the price once again. Methamphet­amines also began to be manufactured on a large scale in Mexico, first with legal and then illegal imports of chemicals from China. President Calderón, working with US agencies including the Drug Enforcement Admini­stration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the CIA, and the FBI, devised a strategy to go after the cartel leaders to confiscate money, weapons and drugs, but his major innovation was to mobilize the army and the navy to combat the traffickers, in order to bypass the problem of official and police involvement in protecting the trade. This effort worried many Mexicans concerned about the abuse of power by the military, but more alarmingly it unleashed a wave of violence among the cartels in which substitutes for the murdered and imprisoned leaders vied for turf. Narcotraffickers themselves were the initial targets of increasingly vicious murders, in which victims were decapitated among other brutalities. Innocent victims increasingly got caught in the crossfire. Narcoviolence expanded at the street level. By the end of Calderón's presidency as many as sixty thousand people had died and one hundred thousand had disappeared. Among the casualties were politicians, especially mayors who refused to be bought off, and journalists who investigated and reported the trade, often targeted by governors who were involved in the trade themselves. Government attempts to smash the drub trade spurred a major fight between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels for control of northeast Mexico, and narco enclaves became even more entrenched in Sinaloa, the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the lowlands in Michoacán and Guerrero. The worst violence took place in Chihuahua (especially in Ciudad Juárez), Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Durango. The Zetas, former army commandos, originally hired as assassins by the Gulf cartel, split off and formed their own organization dedicated not only to drug smuggling but also extortion, kidnapping, and human trafficking. When casino owners in Monterrey refused to pay for protection in 2011, the Zetas set fire to the building, killing fifty-two people, including elderly women who were playing bingo. The cartels found new ways to transport drugs beyond hiding them in the billions of dollars of goods crossing the border. They bought plaines and dug underground tunnels that stretched under the border from Mexico into Arizona and California. A crowing arsenal of arms was easily purchased in the United States, where gun controls were lax or nonexistent. Bribing Mexican officials was old hat (even Mexico's drug czar was revealed to be on the take in 2008), but American border patrol guards could also be bought. The cartels doled out bribes to federal, state, and municipal authorities. Entire police forces and prison security guards were on the payroll in many places. The drug business means jobs and investment: cartel leaders spread their largesse to communities, building public works, schools, and clinics. They gave money to the church. These self-made men are celebrated in narco corridos and on narco blogs as machos and Robin Hoods. The latter comparison misses the mark since the cartel leaders don't rob the rich to pay the poor - drug lords even "invest" in big business. As violence escalated, citizens' groups formed to protect their neighborhoods and com­munities. In Cuernavaca, the torture and murder of the son of Mexican poet Javier Sicilia in March 2011 prompted his father to found the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity. He organized caravans to tour the country and the United States to bring attention to the plight of victimis families, who were largely ignored by the government. The movement blamed Calderón's strategy for the worsening violence, charging that Mexico was on the brink of social and moral collapse. The president met with victims and apologized for their losses, but he refused to back down on the deployment of the military (also accused of murder and rape in the morass of violence). The elephant in the room, of course, is the United States - the source of about 35 million drug users and an untold stockpile of arms. Acknowledging this problem, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama visited Mexico in 2009 to meet with officials. They were also troubled by the that Mexican drugs are funneled through distribution centers across US cities like Atlanta to move cocaine, marijuana, and cash. The Mérida Initiative, already approved by the US congress, us providing financial and military assistance to Mexico's efforts to thwart the drug trade. Obama promised more cooperation at the border. In April named a border czar to oversee US activities to end the cartel violence (and reduce the flow of illegal immigration). But there was no change in the basic strategy to stem the drug trade, which continue unabated throughout the rest of Calderón's administration, overshadowing other problems and initiatives. The weakness of the Mexican state was palpable: it had no monopoly on violence, and the absence of a strong state, the prevalence of corruption, and US market demand drugs as well as the supply of weapons coalesced in an intractable problem. The other unsolved conundrum that linked Mexico and the United States was of even longer standing. Illegal migration (including a growing number of women migrants) had been on the rise ot the time of Calderón's election. NAFTA had become an important stimulant because imports of cheap US commodities put local Mexican farmers out of business encouraged migration: remittances from across the border could crucially underpin community survival, but a combmation of new border surveillance technniques, the sonstruction of the seven hundred - mile fence, and the economic downturn in the United States began to stem migratin in August 2007, by the next year migration from the south had dropped by 25 percent. Still, several million undocumented immigrants remained in the United States, working primarily in service industries (over 50percent) and in construction manufacturing (38 percent). However Setbacks the housing and service sectors in the United States also meant of decline in employment opportunities or resident migrants and precipitated drop in remittances of nearly 4 percent in 2008, the first decline since Mexico tracking money lows 1995. The migrant stream slowed substantially by 2010, when fewer than one hundred thousand border - crossers stayed in the United States, the lowes number since the 1950s. Evidence suggests that by this the time the Mexican economy was providing more employment and educational opportunities in Mexico itself, Where the birth rate had dropped. Brug violence on the border posed to migration, the higher prices bejng charged in the coyotes. Arizona and an expanded pool of border presented greater risks The ecnomio side and th growind volume of drug smuggling stimulated anti-immigrant sentnment in parts of the united states. The confaltions of the undocument immigrantion wiith teerming ating rechead hysterial proportional sonme aras. In arizona, eth racidally conservarive, if not racist, overnor legislture in state of Arizona law requerred that state law enforcement officeres attemp tot determin An individuall, the the the the the teher were reaso the the tehere was reasonable suspection The posed penalties on on on transporing unregistred alien Critics of the leagilation saw it as erancoraging racistial propuling and staged prots The citiies conention organizor cuntery calle for boycorrs but thjere whas tonside support for tourger immigrants nationwide, and failutee of The federa federal govermant the the the federal immigration stallle over the constituionl of the the civil the protection delayhed The implementation of supreme cours. The image is of the border wall and surveillance cameras stretching endlessly across the landscape of southern Arizona and disrupting the exchange of people, plants and animals. Although these legal battles did not move the US Congress to take action of immigration, another every did cause some of its members to rethink their stance on the Latino population. In the 2012 federal clections Democratic Party canddates, including president Barack Obama, defeated a substantial number of repubican conteners who ran on anti - immigrant platforms. The Latino vote (10 percent of the electorate) turned out to be a crucial factor, as Latinos /hispanics voted overwhelmingly (71% in favor of Obama. prior to the execution, by executive order, the president had halted the deportation of as many million illegal immigrants who bought to the united states of children, republicans had repeatedly blocked passage of the dream act high schools and loved and the five years prior to bill. The democrats appeal to immigrant communities Republicmass Deportation. Hispanics United States, estimated to grow to 132 millionstrong by 2050, makingup 30% of the country's population. The reason republicans the topo constituency, they did not consider the comprehensive immigration reform, leaving the issue unresolved. Barack Obama continue to support enforcement of the border, deporting millions of new arriy, despite the recog nition by many Americans that Mexico immigrants more to the unite states than they took from it. ## THE PRI REBORN IN THE 2012 ELECTIONS The midterms Mexican congresial election 2000 favourited the Caldrons was a drug war and a splinted the the leader had found they golden in and 2005 at the age served in several governments position before being elected governor. As governal, Pania Neto has acceded in came out improve public transportion. It has the the when sent police to crash those Mexico city of Airport in of Unashing more civil unrest. detention improsonate the police, Pnia also criticsed for of and death of well known televi sion soap opera artist, Ingela riviera in 2006. The 2012 presidential campaign featured candidates from the three main parties Plus education has dominated in Mexico for years. Tapped Josepha vsquez Mota, the first woman to run and election. **Image description:** The 2012 student protesters used the internet, Facebook, and Twitter to organize their rallies where they wore t- shirts and carried signs bearing the logo "Yo say 132." Contested the results, charging that the mexican media had treated the means used to pay votes for it. The federal eletoral court actually that they were campaign spend. * **Others:** 5% * **Vasquez Mota (Pan):** 25.4% * **Pena Nieto (PRI-PUEM)**:38.2% * **AMLO (PRD- PT):** 31.6% **Image description:** A pie chart shows presidential election during 2012. Leadership she campaigning on the slogan justina different, womanto come to quarter of congresional seats. Political ananlysis attribute patriarchal culture and transparency with all of the the the After popul selected Andrs manueal lpes Obrador. The electionas in 2604, and on media. Problems and Promise 573 March 2015. They spent many months in Mexico during which they faced interference in their attempts to question federal and military officials, constant stone walling, and intimidation. Their 500 page report was presented on September 6th, 2015. For six months had interviewed supervisors to conduct and study the case files the. The report was it for the people with the president and people at all, They tried to bury us They didn’t know seeds. **Image description:** protesters erected this monument. 544 Criss Change In In An ERA Globtion The mexico's people Live in a time con with people sturgle Below The poverty Line The World The Organizor for economi. It seems you missed some text at the bottom of page 27. I will continue with my completion of your task. ## Problems and Promise Enrique Peña Nieto had pledged to improve competitiveness and growth across the Mexican economy. The country's two trillion dollar economy had become the fifteenth largest in the world (and the second in Latin America). Its trade under NAFTA had more than tripled and accounted for about 35 percent of GDP. More than three-quarters of its exports, primarily manufactured products, but also silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, and cotton, went to the United States. Mexico was the world's eighth largest producer of oil, at nearly three million barrels per day, but production had been falling and PEMEX was seen as bureaucracy-ridden and inefficient. At the beginning of Peña Nieto's term, Mexican officials estimated that the economic reforms in the energy and telecommunications sectors could net 4 to 5 percent annual growth for the country. Optimism ran high. In the state of Guanajuato, for example, automobile manufacturers and other multinationals employed many thousands of workers at pay rates higher than those of the border maquiladoras. Most all of the major US automotive companies opened up plants running along a corridor from Puebla to Zacatecas, eventually employing nearly a million workers, an increase of 40 percent in the industry. Mexico had become the world's fourth largest car exporter, having attracted substantial foreign investment with fiscally conservative policies that cut debt and inflation. Nonetheless, the economy as a whole did not pick up, registering just above one percent GDP in 2013. In late 2013 and 2014, Peña Nieto pushed through a constitutional change to further open up the oil sector to private investment, breaking up PEMEX's state-run oil company's seventy-six-year-old monopoly. The reform, opposed by over half of Mexicans who saw it as a giveaway to foreigners, also included the gas and electricity sectors. The partial privatization of energy began to take place in stages. Offshore oil assets first went on sale in July 2015 but netted bids for only two out of fourteen available oil fields. By September 2015, Mexico's GDP growth had risen slightly to 2.1 percent, a far cry from the glowing pre­dictions made at the beginning of Peña Nieto's term. Salaries were stagnant for many across diverse sectors. Since nearly a third of the government's budget came from oil, the global decline in oil prices was one factor explaining poor economic performance, but structural issues such as low productivity, high inequality, a large informal sector employing over half of the workforce, the weak rule of law, and corruption also played a role. By late 2014, the Peña Nieto administration faced serious charges of corruption and extra­judicial killings. On 26, 2014, some one hundred students from the normal school **Image description:** One image is the cover of Time magazine featuring Mexican President Peña Nieto. Another image is against the killing of the students. In March 2015. They spent many months in Mexico during which they faced interference in their attempts to question federal and military officials, constant stone walling, and intimidation. Their 500 page report was presented on September 6th, 2015. For six months had interviewed supervisors to conduct study the case files the. Report was it for people the president people all. tried to bury. And this is the end where all the image is taken information. The immigration custom and enforement steps of raids to the document. Sixty perenct of unducated and worked for mor than a decade and 30 % the a 2016 study demonstrates that undocmented worker. **Image description:** A black and white image of a wall with text in Spanish written on it. The children on a bike. I have done my best to transcribe the text and format it according to your specifications. Let me know if there is anything else you need.