Mexico's Dilemma

Drug trafficking has always been a concern to the Mexican and American people. In recent years it has become more than just a concern, it has become an issue. Checkpoints set up to protect the Mexican people are now being used by corrupt police and military officials to make a profit. Drug cartels are posing as military personnel and extorting people for their money or their lives. The Mexican people have an extremely hard decision on their hands: drive through their own country to earn a living and run the risk of becoming another body discovered in a mass grave, or stay home in a somewhat safer place.
Traveling throughout Northern Mexico has become a huge risk. On Monday September 6, 2010, soldiers fired at a car passing through a checkpoint killing 2 people, including a fifteen-year-old boy. This is not the first time this has happened this year. According to some sources, the car drove through the checkpoint without stopping, but survivors in the car claim they had stopped and were just driving off when the soldiers opened fire. This is the dilemma the people of Mexico have to face when driving virtually anywhere in Northern Mexico.
On a weekly basis we hear stories of mass graves being dug up along the U.S. border, police shootouts with the drug cartels and violence being inflicted among innocent people. Behind this violence is one of the most notorious drug lords, Edgar Valdez Villarreal (also know as “El Barbie”). He was captured near Mexico City in late August. There was another cartel leader captured along with Edgar Valdez Villarreal. They both did something uncharacteristic of cartel leaders; they surrendered.