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First off, I need to apologize for the delay in posting the second part of my blog. Aside from the holidays, my assignments have been more than I anticipated. Alas, I have the continuing saga of the Third War posted. I also want to state that now I am back stateside, My blog posts should be more consistent. Emphasis on "should".

Mexico's Responsibility in the Third War".

It is rumored and some will say it is documented and proved that the Mexican government willingly turned a blind eye to the activities of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel in the early 1980s while they conducted their drug trafficking business to the U.S. because everyone in Mexico was profiting. As long as there was large amounts of money coming in and no violence, no problem. Other up and coming drug cartels eventually saw the opportunity to profit from the same scheme and made their own deals with whatever government official was willing to make a quick Peso. Now officials are profiting from multiple cartels and making even more money. At that point there was no going back.
Because of the socio economics of Mexico where annual per capita income of the average upper middle class citizen is below the poverty level by American standards, any kind of financial gain from whatever source is tempting thus making bribery an easy source of supplemental income regardless of the ethics involved.
The Mexican Government is now fighting the Third War with its federal police forces and military. At the helm of this war is President Felipe Calderon. President Calderon has taken on the major drug cartels in an effort to rid Mexico of the scourge of drug trafficking that is tearing his country apart at every level of society. But as in any war, there is collateral damage. The collateral damage in this war are the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire and the economy of Mexico and cities where drug cartels have literally taken over. In many of the smaller and remote cities, drug cartel henchmen or “sicarios” have either killed or run off all officials out of the cities and taken over and have complete control of areas in an attempt to hold drug transport routes into the US and sea ports for narcotics export. In other areas of Mexico, entire police departments have literally quit or joined the cartels leaving the populace to fend for themselves. Drug cartels have literally gone straight to the top and killed mayors, police chiefs, cops, and other officials in a successful effort to intimidate anyone who may try to stop them or refused to take bribes. Therein lies the problem with accepting bribes. Once it becomes acceptable to receive bribes, it gradually becomes part of the culture and eventually morality and ethics fall secondary to the primary focus of profit. Once the briber has the upper hand, the penalty for refusing to accept a bribe is death.
The Mexican government has not exactly been innocent of guilt in the development of this war. Unfortunately, the Mexican culture has always had an unspoken acceptance of bribery to some degree. It is ingrained into the culture from the taco street vendor to the highest levels of government. A Peso for extra meat in your taco, to the extra $20 to the police to look the other way while the drugs go by a checkpoint. It's just a way of life in Mexico. It is this unspoken rule that the Mexican government has succumbed to and given the drug cartels the upper hand. Now that the drug cartels have amassed unimaginable profits, they can afford to buy off anyone. If the cartels encounter a rare official with integrity who refuses to accept a bribe, they just kill him or threaten his family to the point where he has no choice but to go along with the agreement or flee the country. Not only does that solve an immediate problem for the cartel, it also intimidates other officials who are willing to stand firm with their ethics. This is the battle the Mexican government is fighting within itself, routing out the corrupt officials that are negating the Calderon's efforts, It's no big secret that many high level government officials have been arrested for collaborating with the drug cartels and even being directly involved with the drug trade itself in one way or another. Being that drug cartel personnel have infiltrated every level of government, many government officials have been ruthlessly murdered for playing both sides of the line in an attempt to profit even more.
As of today, President Calderon and his government has made a noble attempt to curtail drug trafficking and cartel violence with the under staffed and under paid personnel that he has. But, until ALL Mexicans take a stand and dump the culture of bribery, it will be a continual uphill struggle to defeat any enemy it has created which is a major battle in itself.