Essay Example on Drug Cartels and Zetas

Drug cartels trace their origins back in the near end of the nineteenth century. During this time, the United States was a famous Chinese migrants’ destination because of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 that barred the majority of them in the US because of their influx. Those Chinese migrants, who had hoped to settle in the United States, therefore, ended up settling in Mexico instead, more so, in Arizona, Sonora, and Sinaloa. These group introduced opium, and by the 20th century, both marijuana and opium were not only grown in Mexico and ultimately but also exported to the United States. The US’s initiatives to stop the importation of both opium and marijuana through legislative action did not disrupt the importation of these drugs rather it boosted them and therefore, smuggling of narcotics across the border took root. Around the 1920s and 1930s, small drug lords, as well as drug cartels, had begun emerging, and these played the key role not only in the production of narcotics but in the exportation of the same. Nevertheless, according to Walser (3), the reason behind the failure of the efforts to stop drug cartels is the mixed signals that the United States has been sending concerning the war on drugs and drug cartels.

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The Zetas differ from the cartels in many ways. One of them is their level of power and influence that makes them a threat to the cartels (Molina, Otto, and Otto). The Zetas leader was Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, also known as Z-40. After he was captured, his brother Omar Treviño Morales, also known as Z-42. When it comes to recruiting, the Zetas look for ruthlessness and other criminal qualities in the hire that would make them fearless. To this effect, if the Zetas were recruiting either one of my family members or me, I would like to steer away from them.

Works Cited

Molina, Otto Pérez, and Otto Pérez Molina. "We Have to Find New Solutions to Latin America's Drugs Nightmare; Narcotics Should be Legally Available-in a Highly Regulated Market, Argues the President of Guatemala." The Guardian (2012).

Walser, Ray. "US Strategy Against Mexican Drug Cartels: Flawed and Uncertain." Backgrounder 2047 (2010): 1-15.