VIDEO: Eliminating Cartel Leaders like El Mencho Unleashes More Violence
Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Program at IPS, joined Al Jazeera recently to discuss the killing of Mexican cartel leader “El Mencho,” and the violent fallout that rocked several Mexican cities afterward.
“One of the great ironies is that the only thing more dangerous than organized crime is disorganized crime,” Sanho explains. He points out that the Department of Homeland Security’s own internal study found that targeting and eliminating kingpins like El Mencho does not, in fact, curb the flow of drugs into the United States.
“What it does do, however, is increase violence, particularly in Mexico,” Sanho warns. Killing cartel leaders creates a power struggle both within and between rival cartels, leading to increased violence. During the 2000s, Sanho points out, former Mexican President Felipe Calderón attempted a similar military intervention to quash drug cartels in his country, with disastrous consequences.
Sanho compares this approach to pouring water onto a grease fire or an electrical fire. “The last thing you want to do is throw water onto that fire, because it will cause it to explode. And that is the problem with drug prohibition.”
“The problem is they’re applying a war paradigm — a drug war — to a decentralized, distributed enemy that is operating for one objective: to make money,” Sanho explains. “It’s not about conquering territory, it’s not about political influence, it’s about maximizing their profits. And so, if you take out the cartel lieutenant or chief, it gives an opportunity for everyone else to make more money.”
“That’s why there’s so much violence and that’s why this is so ending — because people will chase those profits, because we put the profits there,” Sanho concludes.
Watch the full video.
