The Word's Getting Around... Finally

Guns and shootouts have always, in my mind, been a romanticized and fascinating part about the wild wild west.

Those were the days of the cowboy on horseback, or the lone ranger, or the town sheriff battling a group of bandits. But in those stories that I recall, the good always triumphed against the bad.

Against all odds.

Fast forward to today, and Americans are seeing a wild west of a different kind. Look no further than the south of the border, where according to Mexican newspaper Excelsior, drug-related murders for 2009 have hit the 1,367 as of today.

Mexico is seen as a new frontier of violence and lawlessness.

But of course, that’s nothing new.

But what appears to be a new development, and one that's taking momentum, is the increasing recognition and public acknowledgement that most of the guns that are giving rise to the shootouts in the new wild west are actually creeping in from U.S. states with the laxer gun controls.

The phenomena is so serious that Mexican authorities have even given it the name contrabando hormiga (or ant contraband) because the illegal gun shipments are typically small and arrive in a steady trickle (see ‘Cartels' guns flow from U.S.’ by the San Diego Union Tribune).

This is also a narrative that’s reflecting in the ‘Police can't fight Mexican cartel violence alone' editorial piece by The Arizona Republic, which reports that U.S. demand for labor and illicit drugs are what’s enriching Mexico's crime syndicates, with an estimated 90 to 95 percent of the drug-related killings thus far being committed with high-powered weapons obtained in the United States.

‘This isn’t just Mexico’s problem,’ the editorial states.

U.S. President Barack Obama said as much during a press conference this past Tuesday when he praised his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon for the courage in tackling the cartel problem in his country (see ‘Violence spirals as US joins Mexico war on drugs’ by Channel NewsAsia). President Obama also added that the U.S. will have to do more to disrupt the flow of guns and cash back to the drug cartels in Mexico.

I find it really heartening to observe the gradual turnaround in the themes in the newspapers about the drug crisis, and to see the U.S. now coming out in unequivocal support of firm action together with the Mexicans. For a trans-border challenge that stretches from south of the border past the States into Canada (see a previous report), it requires no less a response.

Maybe with this narrative gaining traction, citizens from both sides can rally around a familiar story with a tang of twist but ultimately, I hope, a similar ending: that of the sheriffs and the Federales triumphing against the bandits of the times.

Against all odds.

It’s good that the word is getting around!