If you measure the drug war like you do a product rollout, then the drug war in Mexico is a huge success. The demographics are astonishing:
There was a gray-haired, grandfatherly type who was pushing 70, as well as an avuncular figure with a neatly coiffed goatee and wire-rimmed spectacles perched upon his nose. Some of the five men who found themselves on the front pages of newspapers on their way to jail wore suits, which made them look more like bureaucrats than bad guys.
Among the greatest challenges in Mexico‰s drug war is the fact that the traffickers fit no type. Their ranks include men and women, the young and the old. And they can work anywhere: in remote drug labs, as part of roving assassination squads, even within the upper reaches of the government.
It has long been known that drug gangs have infiltrated local police forces. Now it is becoming ever more clear that the problem does not stop there. The alarming reality is that many public servants in Mexico are serving both the taxpayers and the traffickers.
Starbucks would kill for that kind of market penetration.
Speaking of killing for market penetration, the drug war, as we all know, is also profitable for a number of related industries, including prison, law enforcement, and now:
Mexico’s drug wars are fueling a boom in the funeral industry near the U.S. border as undertakers capitalize on soaring murder rates and gruesome killings.
As Mexicans gather in cemeteries Sunday to place marigolds, candy skulls and candles on tombs for the Day of the Dead festival, a spike in drug violence means more bodies are bound for funeral parlors.
‹We’ve seen a big increase in the number of clients because of the drug war, especially since September. It’s gone from a few (bodies) a week to one or two every day,Š said Fernando, a funeral home owner in Tijuana across the border from San Diego, California.
Isn’t it delightful to see such success? Congratulations to the drug war for creating a self-sustaining international giant of an industry that touches so many people’s lives (not to mention touching the lives of their surviving family members).